Demand up for limb-saving treatment

COUNCIL BLUFFS — Some patients are elderly with diabetes, others are young car crash victims.

They all suffer wounds that could result in amputation or other complications if they don’t heal properly.

A new treatment center is increasing their chances of keeping their limbs — the Advanced Wound Center at Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs.

The center has helped prevent at least four or five amputations since it opened six months ago, said John Meyer, the center’s program director.

Demand for specialized wound care is growing, partly because of rising rates for diabetes, Meyer said.

More than 150 patients have been treated at the center since it opened about six months ago. Cases included bone infections, diabetic foot ulcers and trauma from car crashes and other accidents, Meyer said.

The center draws patients from across southwest Iowa including Missouri Valley, Atlantic and Glenwood, he said.

Key features of the center are two hyperbaric oxygen chambers. Patients are enclosed in the chambers for as long as two hours per treatment.

Inside the chamber, patients breathe pure, 100 percent oxygen. The oxygen is pressurized. That results in patients breathing oxygen molecules that are smaller than usual. Because the molecules are smaller they reach damaged tissue faster and at a more concentrated level, which helps wounds heal quicker, Meyer said.

Patients who have been treated successfully in the chambers include a woman in her 70s who had a skin graft on her leg that wasn’t healing properly and a man in his 40s who had a wound caused by flesh-eating bacteria.

The Nebraska Medical Center is among other hospitals with wound centers and the specialized oxygen therapy.

Alan Didier, a nurse manager at the medical center, said an increasing number of patients need specialized wound care. The Center for Wound Healing there now sees about 250 outpatients per month, up from 50 to 60 a decade ago, he said.

Demand also has grown at an outpatient wound care center in Council Bluffs that’s run by Alegent Health, said Karen Clark, a physical therapist at the center. The center does not offer the oxygen therapy, she said, but it treats a range of patients including those with diabetes.

Diabetes poses a risk of amputation for several reasons, including reduced blood flow.

Diabetes can narrow arteries, reducing blood flow to feet, according to the Mayo Clinic. With less blood to nourish tissues in the feet, it’s harder for sores to heal. An unnoticed cut or a sore hidden beneath socks and shoes can quickly develop into a larger problem.

Left untreated, a minor foot injury could become a serious infection and lead to tissue death. Severe damage might require toe, foot or even leg amputation, the Mayo Clinic says.

Contact the writer:

444-1122, michael.oconnor@owh.com

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