Background: Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy has been adopted for crush injuries, but there are few studies supporting its use. We therefore investigated the effects of HBO2 on management of patients with complicated crush injuries.
Methods: This historic cohort study included patients with crush injuries and open fractures with severities greater than or equal to Gustilo class IIIA. We divided the patients into two groups: Control and HBO2. The control group received conventional treatment, while the HBO2 group received conventional treatment plus HBO2. We compared the groups with respect to the incidence of infection, need for additional surgery, and length of intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stays.
Results: There were 16 patients in the HBO2 group and 13 in the control group. There were no patients with infections in the HBO2 group, whereas in the control group six patients had infections and five needed another drainage procedure. These incidences were significantly lower in the HBO2 group (p = 0.003 and 0.013). However, the durations of ICU and hospital stays were similar across the two groups.
Conclusions: HBO2 is effective in the management of crush injuries from the viewpoint of reducing complications and reoperations. These observations should be verified in additional studies with larger sample sizes because the patient number is limited.