Background: In veterinary medicine, wounds have a high incidence in clinical practice. A technique that can accelerate healing has been extensively studied, and the treatment with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is currently recognized as one of the best adjuvant treatments in this matter.
Aim: The main objective of this pilot clinical study was to assess the therapeutic effect of HBOT in severe wounds classified according to the Modified Vancouver Scale (MVS) between 10 and 15 points or greater than 15 points (MVS > 10 and ≤ 15; MVS > 15). Methods: A study population of 41 patients that were divided into the dog group (Gd) and the cat group (Gc) and were treated at Lisbon Animal Rehabilitation and Regeneration Center, with 100% oxygen, 2.4 atmospheres absolute (ATA) for 90 minutes. The patients wounds were assessed using the MVS at the time of admission, in the first 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours after HBOT therapy, and at the time of medical release. This study also sought to assess if HBOT is a safe therapy in small animal clinical practice by monitoring the major side effects (SEM) and minor side effects (SEm) observed throughout each session.
Results: The results obtained showed that HBOT allowed a decrease in the MVS classification.
Conclusion: The results suggested that HBOT may be an interesting complementary therapy to be prescribed in wounds that present difficulty heal. Furthermore, it was considered a safe therapy since in 289 sessions of HBOT, no SEM was observed, and, as for SEm, the highest incidence was the act of swallowing. However, more studies should be performed with HBOT in small animal clinical practice to confirm these results.
Key words: Wounds, Healing, Modified Vancouver Scale (MVS), Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, dog, cat.
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