Case series: the impact of NATROX® O₂ on patients with DFUs

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Title: Case series: the impact of NATROX® Oxygen Wound Therapy System on patients with diabetic foot ulcers

Diabetic Foot Journal, 2017

Authors: Gail Curran, Catherine Fisher, Paul Hayes, Ian Loftus, Leanne Sequeira

Keywords: diabetic foot ulcer, HBOT comparison, home care, oxygen, wound therapy

Key points:

  • The cost of diabetes to the NHS. These numbers can be extrapolated to other regions as the % of incidence is comparable.
  • Highlights the increasing incidence of diabetes across the globe.
  • Presents the concept of oxygen therapy, especially in wound care.
  • Discusses the limitations of hyperbaric oxygen. Due to the lack of portability, hyperbaric oxygen is only used for 4.5% – 6% of the total treatment time.
  • Introduces NATROX® O₂ and the outcomes of the pilot study.
  • All patients were deemed non-healing and had received optimum care at a specialist clinic for at least 4 weeks prior to commencing NATROX® O₂.
  • Average reduction in wound size was 51% and 70% of participants were on a healing trajectory in 8 weeks.
  • Patient 1 had been treated in a specialist clinical for over a year without improvement. Achieved complete wound closure in 6 weeks.
  • Patient 2, wasn’t ideal for NATROX® O₂ due to the necrotic/slough tissue however he had very limited options. In 8 weeks, a 70% reduction in wound size was achieved.
  • The practicalities of NATROX® O₂ make it easy to implement outside the hospital environment where the majority of patients are managed.
  • These cases were the worst of the worst. Even with specialist intervention, they did not progress. The only thing that changed for these patients was the addition of NATROX® O₂ and with this small change 70% of those wounds started to heal.