health How a successful treatment for hard-to-heal chronic skin wounds was created TOPICAL OXYGEN THERAPY: A CRUCIAL TOOL IN HEALING CHRONIC WOUNDS By Dr. James De Meo, FACFAS As a physician who serves as Chairman of Foot and Ankle Surgery and Director of Wound Care at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn, I see many patients with chronic and difficult-to-treat wounds that have a very hard time healing. These wounds are unpleasant to look at and even more difficult to live with. They can be painful and debilitating, and result from troubling cases of diabetes, skin can- cer, amputations, vascular diseases and numerous other ailments. If they’re not healed, these wounds are there for weeks, months or years, which can lead to infection, hospitalization, surgical procedures and unfortunately amputation. When standard treatments don’t work, I turn to a treatment called Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy, or TOWT. Here’s why: First, it’s very effective. Nearly 50% of the time, Topical Oxygen completely heals a wound (which remember, other treatments could not). Three-quarters of the time, a wound is healed enough so that more standard treatments can work. Second, the patient can administer the treatment in his or her own home and avoid a difficult, inconvenient trip to the hospital or a doctor’s office. It takes 90 minutes a day, four days a week and is easy to do independently. Most patients are older – some in their upper 70s or 80s. Being able to administer the treatment at home is a great service to people suffering with these wounds, especially since many patients are in wheel- chairs or need crutches, canes or walkers. Even though the treatment is done at home, the physician remains very involved. A patient continues to see his or her doctor on a regular basis and is monitored for compliance. The treatment continues until the physician considers the wound healed or eligible for standard treatment. Third, the treatment saves money. It’s as much as 87% less expensive than other treatments. Lastly, as a physician I want as many options as possible in what we call our armamentarium – the options we have to treat a patient with any given ailment. Topical Oxygen is a great option. In my experience, Topical Oxygen Wound Therapy isn’t only a time and money saver, it literally is a limb saver. Dr. James DeMeo, FACFAS, serves as Chairman of Foot and Ankle Surgery and Director of Wound Care at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn, and also maintains a private practice. Paul A. Geary Jr. Paul A. Geary Jr. is something of a serial entrepreneur – a Notre Dame alum who’s spent his career applying his scientific interests with business acumen to improve people’s lives. It was with that mindset that in 1996, he noticed two small clinical studies from England on use of some- thing called “topical oxygen wound therapy” to heal chronic wounds. He was impressed and thought: “With the explosion of the diabetes epidemic in the United States, which is a major problem, this could be a solution.” Diabetes is a chronic disease where your body can’t use glucose the way it should. It can cause a number of complications, including some that make it harder for wounds to heal. That means even simple wounds can become major wounds, and diabetics are far more prone to serious infections. In the most severe cases, diabetics can suffer from gangrene or other serious infections, problematic skin wounds, pain and immobilization. Patients often face amputation if treatments don’t work (please see related story on patient-advocate Anthony Towe on page 28). Mr. Geary went to work. He contacted a medical research doctor in California experienced in the use of large hyperbaric chambers, a widespread treatment for chronic wounds. The doctor agreed to look into it. Two months later, the research physician came back with answers and encouragement. Mr. Geary’s next stop was Dr. Chandan K. Sen, Ph.D., a leading microbiologist who now leads the Ohio State University Comprehensive Wound Center as well as Ohio State’s Center for Regenerative Medicine & Cell Based Therapies. Dr. Sen was intrigued by topical oxygen therapy and its potential. Dr. Sen and The Ohio State University set out to scientifically determine its healing benefits. Nearly 15 years later, researchers from The Ohio State University have published significant evidence-based results supporting the use of topical oxygen wound therapy. The results have convinced insurance companies, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Veterans Administration and others to use the treatment for patients. By the way, Mr. Geary, who is a diabetic himself, not only runs the company but he’s also a patient. For the last six weeks he’s been using topical oxygen wound therapy to heal a skin graft related to removal of a large melanoma from his forearm. He reported around the holidays that the wound has completely healed.
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