Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in adriamycin extravasation: An experimental animal study

Abstract

Adriamycin extravasation is a serious problem that can lead to severe local necrosis and damage to underlying nerves, tendon, and muscle, There are some experimental studies in which conflicting results were reported about the beneficial effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) in adriamycin-induced skin lesions. In this study the effect of HBO on the healing of adriamycin-induced wounds was investigated in the Wistar-Albino rat model. Ninety-five rats underwent injection of a 0.7-ml adriamycin solution (2 mg per milliliter) subcutaneously on the right upper hind legs, The HBO group (n = 43) received HBO treatment (at 2.5 ATA for 80 minutes) twice a day for 28 days, The control group (n = 42) did not receive any therapy. Lesion size was measured for 4 weeks. There was no significant difference in lesion size between the groups on days 7 (p = 0.1364) and 14 (p = 0.1123), but the lesion size was significantly smaller in the HBO group than in the control group on days 21 (p = 0.0251) and 28 (p = 0.0001). Of 36 animals with lesions in the HBO group, complete wound healing occurred in 16 animals by day 40. However, there was no complete wound healing in any of the 36 animals with lesions in the control group. The beneficial effect of HBO in adriamycin-induced skin lesions was observed in this experimental study.