Hyperbaric oxygen therapy facilitates healing of chronic foot ulcers in patients with diabetes

The HODFU study provides a useful example of HBOT moving beyond biological mechanisms to a measurable clinical outcome. Researchers enrolled 94 people with chronic diabetic foot ulcers that had persisted for more than three months and randomly assigned them to receive either hyperbaric oxygen or hyperbaric air as a placebo treatment. Both patients and investigators assessing the outcomes were blinded to treatment assignment. PubMed

At one-year follow-up, complete healing of the studied ulcer occurred in 52% of patients assigned to HBOT compared with 29% in the placebo group. Among participants who completed more than 35 treatment sessions, complete healing occurred in 61% of the HBOT group versus 27% of the placebo group. The authors concluded that HBOT, used as an adjunct rather than a replacement for standard wound care, facilitated healing in selected patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers. PubMed

This study is particularly useful in the context of Oceanside's research library because it demonstrates an important distinction: HBOT is not simply a therapy that changes laboratory markers. For appropriately selected conditions and patients, those physiological effects can translate into clinically meaningful outcomes.