HBOT is an effective treatment of diabetic foot ulcers / chronic wounds. A chronic wound is a wound that does not heal in an orderly set of stages and in a predictable amount of time the way most wounds do; wounds that do not heal within three months are often considered chronic.
Diabetic foot ulcers are complex, chronic wounds, which have a major long-term impact on the morbidity, mortality and quality of patients’ lives. Individuals who develop a diabetic foot ulcer are at greater risk of premature death, myocardial infarction and fatal stroke than those without a history of diabetic foot ulcers.
The prevalence of diabetes rises rapidly with ageing populations.
89% of diabetics suffering with foot ulcers who undergo hyperbaric oxygen therapy avoid amputation.
Diabetes – the facts:
- 280 Australians develop diabetes everyday (1 every 5 minutes).
- A diabetic foot ulcer occurs in approximately 15 percent of patients with diabetes.
- 14-24 percent of patients with diabetes who develop a foot ulcer will require an amputation.
- Australia has an increasing diabetes-related amputation rate making it the second highest in the developed world
- In Australia alone, every three hours someone loses a lower limb as a direct result of diabetes-related foot disease
- 50% of those patients will lose their life within 5 years of their first amputation
- 433,000 people suffer from chronic wounds at any time across Australia
Diabetes Australia https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/about-diabetes