, report Daniela Kroshinsky, MD, MPH, of the department of dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues.
Although intravenous sodium thiosulfate (IV STS) is considered standard care in the treatment of calciphylaxis, HBOT has been reported to have beneficial effects, they noted.
In their study, the researchers retrospectively reviewed records of 93 patients newly diagnosed with calciphylaxis, seen at Massachusetts General Hospital, between January 2006 and December 2021. They compared mortality and wound healing outcomes for 57 patients treated with IV STS only (control group) with those of 36 patients treated with HBOT plus IV STS (treatment group). Traditional survival analyses and Cox proportional hazard modeling were used to examine mortality data, and mixed effects modeling was used to analyze longitudinal wound outcomes. The study was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Univariate survival analyses showed that HBOT plus IV STS was associated with significantly longer survival time than IV STS alone (P = .016), particularly for those with nonnephrogenic calciphylaxis (P < .0001), they report. An increased number of HBOT sessions conferred improved mortality outcomes, with 1, 5, 10, and 20 sessions yielding decreasing hazard ratios.
There was also a significant positive association between an increasing number of HBOT sessions and increased wound score (P = .042). Increases were seen with each session.
Anxiety/claustrophobia was the most common side effect reported among those in the HBOT group (22%).
“Given the proposed benefits and seemingly low side effect profile, it is the authors’ recommendation that HBOT be offered as an additional intervention to patients with calciphylaxis, especially if they have open wounds, to improve outcomes and expedite wound healing,” the researchers concluded.
Limitations, they noted, included the small sample size, retrospective design, and the potential for not adequately capturing patients who received external care. They were also unable to match patients by disease or wound severity. Large prospective trials would help clarify the role of HBOT for calciphylaxis, they added.
The researchers reported no relevant disclosures.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.