Wound Care
Advanced Wound Care In Knox County
Good Samaritan Center for Wound Healing is a state-of-the-art treatment facility where non-healing and complex wounds are treated with specialized care. Our multidisciplinary team and skilled staff include physicians and nurses with advanced training in wound management and hyperbaric medicine.
Common treatments and therapies:
- Advanced Wound Care Products & Technology
- Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
- Negative Pressure Therapy
- Total Contact Casting
- Compression Wraps
- Debridement
Do I Need Advanced Wound Treatment?
Most wounds will start healing on their own within 2 weeks of the initial injury. Sometimes, however, serious or infected wounds don't show any signs of recovery long after the injury occurred. When this happens, it is imperative you have the wound examined by a medical professional. Non-healing wounds are often indicators of a serious underlying medical problem.
The following are common conditions that required advanced wound care treatments:
- Diabetic Ulcers
- Pressure Ulcers
- Radiation Injury
- Vascular Wounds
- Venous Ulcers
- Arterial Ulcers
- Crush Injuries
- Infected Wounds
- Ischemic Ulcers
- Metabolic Wounds
- Necrotizing Infections
- Surgical Dehiscence
- Compromised Skin Flaps and Grafts
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Late Side Effects of Radiation
Radiation therapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer. According
to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 50% of all cancer patients
receive some type of radiation therapy during their course of treatment.
Radiation therapy can cause side effects, bu: they are different for everyone
and there is no way to predict how radiation will affect you.
There are two kinds of radiation side effects:
early and
late.
Early side effects, such as nausea and fatigue, usually don't last long. They
may start during or right after treatment and last for several weeks after
it ends, but then they get better.
Late side effects occur months or even years after your cancer treatment. They are not common, but do occur in up to 20% of patients and can impact the quality of life. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy is a noninvasive procedure frequently used to treat the late side effects caused by radiation therapy. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy utilizes oxygen under pressure to enhance the body's ability to heal.
Patients breathe 100% oxygen inside a chamber that is pressurized at 2-3 times greater than atmospheric pressure. Most patients see improvements in as little as 20 treatments.
Late side effects are specific to where radiation therapy is given. These symptoms could have many causes but if any are present, you should seek medical advice:
Head and Neck
- Dry Mouth
- Increased dental cavities
- difficulty chewing
- Difficulty swallowing
- Minor bleeding
- Pain
- Difficulty turning head from side to side
Chest
- Pain
- Inflammation or open sore
- Dry cough
- Shortness of breath
Bladder
- Frequent urination
- Blood in urine
- Painful urination
Pelvis
- Frequency or urgency of bowel movement
- Blood in stool
- Pain
- Bloating
The wound care center can be found on the third floor of Good Samaritan’s Health Pavilion and is open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4:30 pm. You can contact us at 812-885-6780. We accept self-referrals.
