Article Text
Abstract
Introduction Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been suggested to improve healing of lower limb ulcers, though the quality of available evidence is weak to moderate. This study assessed the opinions and use of HBOT by specialists treating lower limb ulcers.
Research design and methods Accredited vascular surgeons and podiatrists in Australia and New Zealand were sent an online survey via their professional organizations. The survey asked about their use and opinions of HBOT in treating lower limb ischemic, neuropathic and venous ulcers. Data were summarized with descriptive statistics. Non-parametric tests were used to compare survey results obtained from vascular surgeons and podiatrists.
Results 61 vascular surgeons and 40 podiatrists completed the survey. Thirty-seven specialists used HBOT for treating lower limb ulcers, with the remainder indicating they did not feel there was a role for HBOT (n=25) or did not have access to HBOT (n=39). Less than 8% of specialists indicated that HBOT frequently or always had a role in treating ischemic, neuropathic or venous ulcers. Compared with podiatrists, vascular surgeons were significantly less likely to indicate HBOT had a treatment role for any ulcer type (p<0.001, p=0.004, and p<0.001, respectively), though significantly more likely to indicate they currently used HBOT for treating lower limb ulcers (p<0.001). Most specialists (n=76) believed that a large clinical trial is needed to determine the efficacy of HBOT in treating lower limb ulcers.
Conclusions Vascular surgeons and podiatrists do not feel HBOT has a frequent role in treating lower limb ulcers, but do feel there needs to be a large clinical trial to test its value.
- surveys and questionnaires
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Footnotes
Contributors JG takes responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to published article. JG and TPS designed the research study. JG, TPS, MEF, and TW designed the survey tool. JG, MEF, and AD collected and analyzed the data. JG, MEF, and AD wrote the manuscript, with all authors editing and approving the final manuscript version.
Funding Funding from The Townsville Hospital and Health Services Study, Education and Research Trust Fund, James Cook University (Strategic Research Investment Fund) and Queensland Government supported this work. JG holds a Practitioner Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (1117061) and a Senior Clinical Research Fellowship from the Queensland Government, Australia.
Disclaimer The funders played no role in study design, conduct, data collection, analysis and interpretation, and did not assist in preparation or review of this manuscript.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval This study received an ethics waiver from the Townsville Hospital and Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee (LNR/2019/QTHS/54813). Ethics waivers are available for clinical audits and quality improvement or assurance research activities that are considered as being of low or negligible risk.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request to the authors.