The Effects of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Edema after Stifle Surgery

Introduction: HBOT has been reported in certain human studies to be an effective therapy for edema reduction. The objective of this study is to obtain volumetric measurements of a limb the day after Medial Patellar Luxation surgery, before and immediately after HBOT. We theorize that there should be a measurable decrease in inflammation immediately after HBOT.

Materials and Methods: This prospective study includes five dogs which had Medial Patellar Luxation surgery all involving a wedge trochleoplasty, tibial tuberosity transposition, and lateral imbrication. For the volume measurement a CT was performed prior to and immediately after HBOT, then Horos Imaging Software was used to make the volume measurements.

Results: There were three out of the five subjects that had a reduction in volume post-HBOT and the other two subjects had a very minimal increase in the volume post-HBOT. The average volume of all 5 subjects pre-HBOT was equal to 72.90 cm³ and post-HBOT was 71.01 cm^3. The difference in volume overall is equivalent to a 2.6% reduction in volume when calculated among all 5 limbs.

Discussion/Conclusion: The result shows that there is edema reduction after just one HBOT treatment in at least 3 of the 5 subjects. This supports our theory that HBOT could help reduce edema. To provide stronger evidence a larger study with a control group would be important to gather more data. HBOT could be a valuable adjunctive therapy for postop orthopedic surgeries or surgeries in general.

Acknowledgment: There was no funding provided for this project.