The Role of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Enhancing the Rate of Wound Healing with a Focus on Axon Regeneration (Report‪)‬

Wounds Wounds and diseases have affected humanity for all time and finding better techniques for inducing their healing or resolution is of critical importance. Wound healing is a dynamic pathway requiring the presence of oxygen for optimal restoration of tissue integrity and function. Healing results from an accumulation and cascade of cellular and biochemical processes including blood coagulation, cellular respiration, inflammation, ground substance and matrix synthesis, angiogenesis, fibroplasia, re-epithelialization, wound contraction, and remodeling, increased collagen production, fibroblast proliferation, enhanced vascularization, increased cell motility, antibacterial action, and the presentation of growth and wound-healing factors. These complex overlapping processes are best organized into 3 phases of healing: the inflammatory phase, the proliferative phase, and the maturation phase, all of which are oxygen dependant. Therefore, arterial occlusion or vasoconstriction, hypotension, hypothermia, and peripheral venous congestion delay or prevent wound.