Ask an answerable question (PICO):
Diabetic foot ulcer is one of the top ten causes of disability globally, with a mortality rate of 31% within five years of its onset. In Taiwan, clinical care of diabetic foot ulcer is mostly on the basis of traditional wound care. We observed that topical oxygen therapy might resulted in better would healing in clinical settings and led us to use the process of evidence-based knowledge synthesis to generate a better understanding of the effectiveness of topical oxygen therapy on enhancing the healing of diabetic foot ulcer.
The Method and Analysis of Literature Review:
According to the subject of this synthesis, Chinese and English keywords, synonyms, and Medical Subject Heading (MeSH term) were established. Several databased including Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Airiti Library were searched using Boolean algebra, i.e. OR and AND. The study design is mainly systematic review (SR) and randomised controlled trial (RCT); The search is restricted to documents published within five years, and the language is not restricted. A total of 1,236 relevant articles were searched, 1,091 articles that were not SR, MA, and RCT were deleted according to the inclusion criteria, 119 articles were deleted after reviewing the title and abstract, and 4 RCTs that had been included in SR and 6 articles that did not meet the requirements were deleted after further inspection of the full text.
Critical Appraisal:
The three literatures included were critically appraised using 2018 Systematic Review Checklist of Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) for the appraisal of risk of bias, the importance of study results, and the practicability of each study.
Results, Conclusions and Recommendations:
The synthesised of the three included studies found that the topical oxygen therapy could enhance would healing of diabetic foot ulcer. The use of topical oxygen 3 to 15 ml/hr, 90 minutes/day, around three to seven day/week, for around 4 to 12 weeks, has a significant effect on improving would healing and decreasing would area.