• Lisardo García-Covarrubias, Diana M Barratt, Robert Bartlett, and Keith Van Meter.
• Departamento de Cirugía, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112-2699, USA. lgarcia@tulane.edu
• Rev Invest Clin. 2004 Jan 1;56(1):51-5.

IntroductionMucormycosis is an invasive fungal infection that affects decompensated diabetics, immunosupressed patients and occasionally healthy individuals. Despite advances in anti-fungal therapy and surgical techniques, the morbidity and mortality remain high. Adjuvant hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) has been proposed based on pathophysiology and several favorable clinical reports.Material And MethodsA chart review of mucormycosis patients referred to the HBO service was performed. Also an electronic search in Medline of relevant literature was undertaken.ResultsFive mucormycosis patients referred for HBO had complete charts available. Four had craniofacial involvement and one had left upper extremity involvement. The predisposing diseases were leukemia (n = 3), diabetes mellitus plus sarcoidosis (n = 1), and trauma (n = 1). All patients were managed with amphotericin B, surgical debridement and HBO. Survival was 60% (3/5) three months after the diagnosis was established. The literature was scarce but favors HBO.ConclusionConsidering the pathophysiology of mucormycosis adjuvant HBO therapy seems reasonable. However, the clinical experience is still too limited to make HBO part of the standard of care. Prospective, randomized, controlled trials will help to define the role of HBO in this devastating infection.

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