Wound Healing and Hyperbarics
The new Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbarics at Southwestern offers highly specialized wound care methodologies and treatments of chronic wounds and non-responsive conditions. Wounds which do not heal in more than 30 days often have underlying medical conditions and experts predict an increase in chronic wounds as rates of diabetes and vascular disease combined with an aging population increase the need. Likely candidates for treatment at the Center are those suffering from diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers, infections, compromised skin grafts and flaps, and wounds that haven’t healed.
The Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbarics at Southwestern has partnered with National Healing Corporation, which has a nationwide network of researchers and specialists and accounts for more than 30 percent of the country’s managed and outsourced wound healing centers.
Physicians, nurses and technicians at The Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbarics at Southwestern receive specialized training at the National Healing Institute on The Ohio State University campus and have the opportunity to attend research symposiums featuring noted experts.
Leading edge treatments at the center will include negative pressure wound therapy, bio-engineered tissues, biosynthetic dressings and growth factor therapies. The center also will offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which works by surrounding the patient with 100 percent oxygen at higher than normal atmospheric pressure as the patient watches television or talks with others while relaxing on a bed encased within a large see-through plastic shell. The only physical sensation resulting from the treatment is a slight pressure on the eardrum, such as that felt when a plane lands, as the air in the chamber is compressed. This advanced therapy increases the amount of oxygen in the patient’s blood and allows red blood cells to pass more easily through the plasma into the wound to heal it from the inside out.
Patients may also have the opportunity to participate in clinical trials and multi-center studies. The Center for Wound Healing and Hypberbarics at Southwestern also will collaborate with expert pathologists at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Florida to gain a rapid diagnosis and begin an effective treatment of challenging cases.
For more information on The Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbarics at Southwestern is located at 5606 SW Lee Boulevard, Suite 103. For more information call (580)531-6441.