The chamber typically is used to help cancer patients’ blood vessels heal after radiation treatment.

When the patient arrived at the Norton Brownsboro Hospital campus for an appointment with a Norton Louisville Arm & Hand surgeon, providers quickly recognized she was in pain and several fingertips already were damaged severely from lack of oxygen. She was taken to the Norton Wound Healing Center immediately.

“She had a lot of places on the bottom of her feet that were as bad as her hands were,” said J. Neal Sharpe, M.D., a surgeon and medical director of Norton Wound Healing Center. “We were able to stop that. I think her feet would have gotten as bad as her hands were. I don’t think she will need any surgery on her toes and feet.”

The patient still will need hand surgery on some of her fingertips.

Saving her feet — and preventing further damage to her hands — required twice-a-day treatments of pure oxygen for 15 consecutive days at Norton Wound Healing Center – Brownsboro. Nurses Anissa Rivera and Deborah Christian cared for the patient throughout the stretch, working two weekends including Mother’s Day.

“We did it because we want our patients to get better,” Anissa said. “We think of them as family.”

A hyperbaric chamber increases oxygen in blood moving through the body. A patient lies down in the clear chamber and receives 100% oxygen for 2½ hours under pressure. The air we breathe normally is 21% oxygen. The pressure in a hyperbaric chamber is the same as being 33 feet underwater.

The patient had been treated at Norton Audubon Hospital for COVID-19. Once she stabilized, she returned home. Then, the virus began attacking her hands and feet.

Inflammation from the body’s response to the virus often affects the airways and makes it hard for patients with COVID-19 to breathe. It also can cause heart, liver or kidney problems. In this patient’s case, the inflammation caused small blood vessels in her hands and feet to swell and close off, threatening to starve nearby tissue of oxygen.

According to Anissa, at the end of the two weeks, the patient’s spirits were better, her pain had lessened and the damage had been limited to several fingertips.

“I felt good about what we did for her,” Anissa said.

The patient was so grateful that she presented each of the nurses with a bouquet.

“She brought us flowers, and her family gave us a little card telling us how appreciative they were and how they could tell we love what we do. That made me cry,” Anissa said.

The post Intensive wound-care treatment helps save woman’s COVID-19-damaged hands and feet appeared first on Norton Healthcare.

Jae Jung, M.D., Norton Cancer Institute, is melding ancient knowledge with new technology to heal hard-to-treat wounds. Dr. Jung, Kentucky’s only oncologic dermatologist, calls maggots “the real stars of this success story.”

Maggot debridement therapy (MDT) uses medical-grade, germ-free larvae to treat serious skin and soft tissue wounds. Typically, MDT is used for lesions that fail to respond to traditional treatments.

“Credible research supports the use of maggot therapy,” Dr. Jung said. “New advanced technology and bandaging applications have improved its effectiveness and made it easier to use.”

World’s “smallest surgeons”

Medicinal maggots have been called “the world’s smallest surgeons” because they can precisely debride wounds without damaging surrounding healthy tissue. They secrete enzymes that break down dead tissue and help kill bacteria.

Their work helps stimulate growth of healthy new connective tissue and microscopic blood vessels. This is a critical step in the body’s ability to heal wounds.

Maggot debridement has been described from antiquity across many cultures. Its therapeutic use in the United States dates to the Civil War. In 2003, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began regulating the use of medicinal maggots.

Saving limbs and lives

Judith Beumler, 73, knows firsthand about the benefits of MDT. She struggled for nearly a year with a 3-inch ulcer on her ankle that started from a medicine reaction.

“I hurt from my ankle to my knee. I couldn’t sleep. I needed help,” Judith said.

After seeing other providers, Judith was referred to Dr. Jung, who specializes in treating complicated cases. Dr. Jung had used MDT successfully to treat nonhealing ulcers related to graft-versus-host disease, a potentially fatal immune response sometimes seen in recipients of tissue or bone marrow transplants. She also had used it to treat ulcers related to radiation treatment and poor blood flow.

When Dr. Jung first recommended maggot therapy, Judith and her daughter cringed and said, “What?”

Then they weighed the options: Lidocaine shots and painful debridement every 10 days over numerous visits versus a one-time 48-hour application of maggots. Both agreed to try MDT.

“I was in horrible pain, and we were desperate,” Judith said.

Dr. Jung said Judith’s response is common.

“At first patients are grossed out, as you would expect, but they’re so fed up with the ulcer they just want something that will help,” she said.

On a Wednesday, Dr. Jung applied what looked like tiny white strings to Judith’s ankle inside a specially designed bandage. She said that while the treatment is not painful, it could cause some discomfort.

For the first 24 hours, Judith felt nothing. Late on day two, she felt something. By Friday morning, as she headed to Dr. Jung’s office to get the treatment removed, she admitted the sensation became a bit unnerving.

The good news is Judith’s ulcer responded remarkably well to MDT. She had to wear pressure stockings for some time, and she sees Dr. Jung for periodic wound checks — but she is thrilled with her outcome.

To Dr. Jung’s knowledge, she is the only provider in the area offering MDT. This unique therapy, while still uncommon in modern health care, offers hope for people with chronic nonhealing wounds.

The post Find out why maggots are lucky, not yucky, for treating serious wounds appeared first on Norton Healthcare.