Edmond Hyperbaric Wound Care Center is helping wounds heal faster

By Jim Killackey

Published: September 8, 2008

For two hours every weekday, Christine Vollmer watches a movie while flat on her back in a pressurized chamber that administers 100 percent pure oxygen.

The treatment is aimed at the area where her right leg was amputated, just below the knee. The wound should heal much sooner because of the oxygen level inside Edmond Wound Care Center's hyperbaric chamber.

Hundreds of Oklahomans with a variety of wounds and illnesses are being treated at wound care centers across the state. The centers offer specialized treatment for patients with chronic, non-healing wounds, said Dr. Gregory Morgan, director of Edmond Medical Center's wound care center.

Vollmer, who lives in Noble and has diabetes, actually enjoys the tranquil, controlled atmosphere inside the large acrylic tube.

"It makes a scary situation a whole lot better,” said Vollmer, 45, who operates a metal press at Johnson Controls in Norman.

"Many of the wounds seen at the Edmond Hyperbaric Wound Care Center are a result of serious medical illnesses such as diabetes, radiation therapy injuries, or failed skin grafts,” Morgan said. "These wounds are extremely deep and usually affect skin tissue, muscle tissue, and may even expose bone tissue. It is not for minor injuries that will heal on their own in a short time frame.”

El Reno rancher Don Courtney is using the Edmond hyperbaric chamber to treat a wound he got in a fall during a recent Colorado vacation.

The just-below-the-skin injury is from his waist to his knee, and he said he's happy to be on the mend.

Hyperbaric oxygen chambers, Morgan said, were first used by deep-sea divers for a decompression sickness commonly called "the bends.”

In the 1960's and 1970's, researchers found that using these oxygen chambers on patients with chronic, nonhealing wounds greatly increased the healing rate by increasing the oxygen in the blood.

A physician and nurses who specialize in wound-care therapies perform their work as the patient is inside the chamber. The combination of the atmospheric pressure and the pure oxygen improves wound metabolism and usually increases the production of collagen needed in repairing muscle and skin cells.

Hyperbaric oxygen also improves the immune-system response and "kick starts” the body into repairing the damaged area, Morgan said.

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