Between 1979 and 1982, thirty-eight patients with chronic
non-hematogenous osteomyelitis were treated by local debridements of the
wound, prolonged parenteral administration of antibiotics, and an average
of forty-eight once-a-day treatments with hyperbaric oxygen. Of these
thirty-eight patients, thirty-four remained free of clinical signs of
osteomyelitis for an average of thirty-four months (range, twenty-four to
fifty-nine months) after this regimen of treatment. Only four of the
thirty-eight patients had been free of clinical signs of osteomyelitis for
as long as three months during the two years preceding this treatment.
Three of the four failures of treatment were evident within one month after
treatment. This method of treatment appears to prolong the infection-free
interval of patients with chronic non-hematogenous osteomyelitis.