Case series: the impact of NATROX® Oxygen Wound Therapy System on patients with diabetic foot ulcers

Gail Curran is Senior Vascular Research Nurse; Catherine Fisher is Vascular Research Nurse; Paul Hayes is Consultant Vascular Surgeon. All are at Cambridge University Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust, Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge Vascular Unit, Cambridge. Ian Loftus is Consultant Vascular Surgeon; Leanne Sequeira is Vascular Research Nurse. Both are at St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust, London Diabetic foot ulceration currently costs around £600–£700 million per year in the NHS alone (Diabetes UK, 2012; NHS Digital, 2016). Both in the UK, and globally, diabetes incidence is increasing apace with costs set to spiral in the coming years. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy was first used in the field of wound care in the 1960s, and the association between oxygen and wound healing has since been investigated further and applied to a range of wounds. This article examines the role of oxygen — the NATROX® Oxygen Wound Therapy System — in wound healing, and looks at the impact of increased oxygenation on ulcer healing through a case series where the NATROX system was used in patients with diabetic foot ulcers.