Hyperbaric Management of Frostbite

Excerpt

Although evidence for treating frostbite with hyperbaric oxygen is sparse and limited to case reports and inadequate animal studies, there is a plausible mechanism of action to suggest effective treatment using hyperbaric oxygen, and it may have additional benefits if initiated as soon as possible after rewarming. All animal studies reviewed utilized some form of rapid freezing of tissues involving deeper, and almost immediate, tissue destruction. This presents a model that is unlike the slow progressive freezing seen in clinical human frostbite cases.