Hyperbaric treatment strides to the top of local wound care procedures

PALMER – Mat-Su Regional Medical Center is home to the only Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber in the state of Alaska – a fact that quite possibly saved Palmer resident Janette Melton’s entire foot after she injured it in a minor accident last May.

After 40 treatments of hyperbaric therapy, Melton, 85, has been declared out of the woods by her doctor and is on her way back to participating in her favorite outdoor activities, including walking, hiking and golfing.

“I would like to see more awareness of the hyperbarics, because there’s definitely a need and I think we’re very fortunate here in the Valley, that we have such a facility,” she said.

Melton was lifting an item off a shelf when she dropped it. The second toe of her left foot absorbed the brunt of the impact, which caused a pain so severe it brought Melton to her knees.

She had a history of slow-healing injuries due to poor circulation, but did not expect the toe to get worse in the next several weeks. When it began to turn black, Melton’s son, who had heard about hyperbaric therapy, encouraged her to consult a doctor.

She booked an appointment with Dr. Jennifer Jansma from Alaska Foot and Ankle Specialists. Jansma diagnosed Melton with gangrene and referred her to the Mat-Su Regional Advanced Wound Care and Hyperbaric Therapy Center to undergo oxygen treatment as a precursor to an operation. Surgery would not have been possible right away because of the gangrene, according to Melton, as the toe would have been unable to heal completely.

Hyperbaric therapy is a medical treatment that increases the amount of oxygen in the blood, allowing oxygen to pass more easily through the plasma membrane into the wounds to heal them. The patient lies in a chamber surrounded with 100 percent oxygen at a higher than normal atmospheric pressure.

Starting in early August, Melton began a series of two-hour sessions, five days a week. After 20 treatments in the chamber, Jansma amputated a small part of the toe that could not be saved. Following the surgery, Melton underwent 20 additional sessions of hyperbaric oxygen treatment for healing purposes.

Melton was intimidated by the chamber at first.

“I have a little problem with claustrophobia, but [it] being all clear, where I could see out and I could know what was going on around me. It helped a lot,” she said.

The criterion for hyperbaric therapy varies with different types of wounds, according to Dylan Pearce, Wound Care director at Mat-Su Regional. Melton’s case was straightforward—due to an increasing amount of dead tissue, she was facing losing her toe. The day after her diagnosis, Melton had an appointment at the Wound Care center.

Mat-Su Regional offers specialized care for all types of non-healing wounds. Wounds that have not shown signs of improvement in several weeks or are not responding to treatment need extra help to heal. Some of the conditions that can be treated at the Wound Care Center include various types of ulcers, surgical and traumatic wounds, and burns. The hyperbaric chamber is one of many different types of services that can help non-healing wounds. The clinic also specializes in wound dressing, compression therapy, cellular and tissue-bases products and more.

“I don’t know where I would have ended up if I didn’t have the wound care and the hyperbarics available to me. I would have undoubtedly lost much more than I did,” said Melton.

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center is a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. It is a 109-bed acute care healthcare facility providing advanced surgical service, including robotic-assisted partial and total knee and total hip replacement, cardiac care, emergency services, sleep studies, three urgent care centers, the Family Birthing Center and is home to the 30-Minutes-or-Less ER Service Pledge. Mat-Su Regional is accredited as a Chest Pain Center by the American College of Cardiology, and as an Acute Stroke Ready Hospital by The Joint Commission. The hospital has twice been named one of the Top 150 Places to Work in Healthcare by Becker’s Hospital Review. To learn more about Mat-Su Regional, visit www.MatSuRegional.com.