Newark mother of two Patricia Porterfield was suffering from neuropathy from diabetes-related osteomyelitis—infection in the bone—and a nonhealing wound on her foot when she came to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway for treatment.
Newark mother of two Patricia Porterfield was suffering from neuropathy from diabetes-related osteomyelitis—infection in the bone—and a nonhealing wound on her foot when she came to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway for treatment.
“THE BONES IN Ms. Porterfield’s foot broke down, and the arch was taking all the pressure with each step,” says Marshall Feldman, DPM, ABFAS, Wound Care Specialist and the Chair of the Division of Podiatric Surgery at RWJ Rahway. “She had poor circulation, and the skin was damaged and wouldn’t heal. We performed multiple procedures both to the bone and soft tissue, using advanced techniques such as skin grafting with plastic mesh, but all failed initially.”
The Power of Oxygen
Juan Baez, MD, Chair of the Division of Infectious Disease and President of Medical Staff at RWJ Rahway, prescribed antibiotics to address Ms. Porterfield's osteomyelitis. A total contact cast reduced the pressure on the bones in her foot. But the biggest change in her condition came when she began hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy.
“Ms. Porterfield had a very high risk of amputation and limb loss,” says Jane Afremova, RN, Program Director for the RWJ Rahway Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine. “Amputations are associated with a much higher mortality rate within five years, but hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps save limbs, which saves lives.”
“HBO increased the amount of oxygen going to the wound to speed healing,” Dr. Feldman says. “Everything else would have failed had it not been used. Its ability to help the body heal reduces complications and in some cases the need for complex surgeries.”
HBO therapy healed Ms. Porterfield’s wound and infection, increased her quality of life, and makes her a candidate for surgeries to correct her foot deformity caused by Charcot Foot. (See “What Is Charcot Foot?”.)
“I’m considering surgery in January,” Ms. Porterfield says. “Today, I just want to live a little. I’m wearing two sneakers again for the first time in a long time, and it feels so good to walk on my own.”