IWGDF Guidelines Support Topical Oxygen Therapy (TOT)

2023 IWGDF Guidelines

The International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF) has just published its 2023 “Guidelines on Interventions to Enhance Healing of Foot Ulcers in People with Diabetes¹.” This comprehensive set of recommended DFU interventions, developed by a panel of renowned experts in the field whose mission is to prevent and manage diabetic foot disease, serves as a trusted resource for healthcare professionals worldwide.

The Guidelines state clinicians should:

“Consider the use of topical oxygen as an adjunct therapy to standard of care for wound healing in people with diabetes-related foot ulcers where standard of care alone has failed and resources exist to support this intervention^¹.” 

In addition, the guidelines note how “evidence on topical oxygen has substantially expanded in the last four years with several new RCTs with a total of ten included in the systematic review for these guidelines (References 100-109)^¹”, which includes an RCT study published in 2021² which compared the healing effects of using standard care against a combination of standard care plus NATROX® O₂. In the study, patients completing the 12-week therapy experienced 71% greater healing rates² and 73% greater reduction in wound size^² using NATROX® O₂.

Among the recommendations highlighted in the new guidelines, TOT gained recognition as an accepted intervention when treating non-healing DFUs.  With its inclusion in the IWGDF guidelines, topical oxygen therapy emerges as a vital tool, poised to revolutionize the management and healing of foot ulcers in individuals with diabetes.