Bucyrus Community Hospital Wound Healing Center Participating in National Research Study
- 9/1/2010
- 9/1/2010
Bucyrus Community Hospital Wound Healing Center Participating in National Research Study
The Wound Healing Center at Bucyrus Community Hospital has agreed to participate in a research study being conducted by the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine (ACHM). The study will focus on patients who have experienced radiation injuries and received hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO).
"Providing the best quality care is a top priority for us," said Sarah Beidelschies, Program Director for the Wound Healing Center. "We are very proud to be partnering with the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine in this venture." While the Wound Healing Center has only been open since January, 2010, they have seen great success with their use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for the treatment of radiation injury.
The Wound Healing Center will submit heal rates and health outcomes to the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine. The data will be used to perform a retrospective analysis on a group of patients who have received hyperbaric oxygen therapy for radiation injuries compared to patients who have not received HBO therapy.
Many patients who undergo radiation therapy discover a hidden complication that may not come to light until years after they conclude treatments. This year alone, 1.2 million cases of invasive cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. Of those patients, half will receive radiation treatment. Five percent, or 30,000, of radiated patients will suffer from associated complications, such as soft tissue damage each year.
While radiation is great for killing cancer cells, it sometimes damages the body’s good cells too,” says Dr. Mendel Reid, Medical Director of the Wound Healing Center. “This damage can occur anywhere between two weeks and 20 years after treatment.”
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the only therapy known to reverse the vascular compromise responsible for radiation injuries. "There are no alternative therapies that correct the problems these patients have,” comments Dr. Reid.
While receiving hyperbaric oxygen treatments, patients watch movies while relaxing on a bed incased in a large see-through plastic shell as they are surrounded by 100 percent oxygen at higher-than-normal atmospheric pressure which enables oxygen molecules to pass through the plasma to the body more easily and speed healing.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a treatment in which the patient is exposed to 100 percent oxygen inside a pressurized chamber. This increased oxygen delivery stimulates the healing mechanisms of the body and assists in returning it to normal.
The American College of Hyperbaric Medicine has worked to develop best hyperbaric practices, focusing on quality assurance and improvement in the field. The radiation study will be the largest reported collection of patients with radiation injury treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
For more information call the Wound Healing Center at Bucyrus Community Hospital at 419-563-9899. The Wound Healing Centerspecializes in the treatment of chronic wounds and offers outpatient wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.