The role of oxygen therapy in the healing of experimental skin wounds and colonic anastomosis.

A number of experimental studies have indicated that wound healing is adversely affected by hypoxia, and it has been suggested that healing can be improved by increasing inspired oxygen tensions. However, this hypothesis is based on observations on simulated wounds or tissue implants in experimental animals, and the clinical relevance of these observations is uncertain. The effects of oxygen therapy on the healing of skin wounds and colonic anastomoses were examined in rats. Sutured skin incisions and normal and ischaemic colonic anastomoses were studied in control animals breathing air and in test animals breathing 50 per cent oxygen. Wound healing was assessed by measurements of wound breaking strength, colonic bursting wall tension and wound collagen after 7 days' treatment with oxygen. There was no significant difference in the measurements in skin wounds or colonic anastomoses in test and control animals, and there was a similar incidence of anastomotic dehiscence in the ischaemic colon of test animals and controls. Oxygen therapy had no apparent effect on wound healing in this study, and it was concluded that further studies are required to determine whether or not there is a rational basis for the clinical use of oxygen therapy to help wound healing.