New Dressings Deliver Oxygen to Wounds

New oxygenated dressings speed wound healing and may offer an alternative to hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy.

The new technology, named the Oxygenesys topical dissolved oxygen (TDO) system, was developed by AcryMed (Beaverton, OR, USA). The system is designed to allow oxygen to enter the wound via the external surface of the body rather than from capillaries within. Systemic side-effects are therefore avoided and topical dressings are a comforting and readily available approach to wounds for all patients. Studies conducted on human donor skin showed that significant amounts of oxygen were delivered to the wound site and even permeated the skin tissue at a rate that is at least three times higher than the level delivered by blood. The technology was reported at the annual meeting of the Wound Healing Society, held in May 2006 in Scottsdale (AZ, USA).

"The ability to deliver dissolved oxygen directly to a wound site using an easy-to-apply wound dressing represents a real breakthrough in medical science,” said Dr. Bruce Gibbins, founder and chief technical officer at AcryMed. "Our preliminary results are quite promising and by working directly with device manufacturers we expect to have a real solution of this kind on the market soon.”

Wounds require oxygen to heal. For many diabetics and others suffering from chronic wounds, poor circulation of oxygen-rich blood to the wound site (ischemia) can severely retard the healing process. To date, the only viable solution is hyperbaric oxygen therapy, an ongoing treatment in which a patient spends hours in a pressurized chamber breathing oxygen rich air. The therapy typically requires repeated sessions, extended over a period of weeks or months. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment is both expensive and time-consuming, and for those not living close to proper facilities, this treatment may be impractical.



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