Frostbite, A New Adjunct in Treatment

Abstract

To the Editor:— Hyperbaric oxygen was incorporated in the treatment of severe frostbite of the extremities at the Royal Victoria Hospital (Montreal). The remarkable clinical course in this patient strongly suggests that this treatment was of definite value in sustaining viability in the peripheral tissue following cold injury. A 39-year-old white man was brought to the emergency room on the morning of Feb 3, 1965. Because of alcoholic indiscretion, he had been unable to find his way home the previous evening and had slept out for about seven hours before being discovered. The ambient temperature that night was in the range of —10 F. When the patient was seen, both legs were hard, white, and frozen up to knee-level. The tips of all fingers were similarly blue-white and frozen. The areas of cold injury were completely anesthetic and spontaneous movements were limited. All peripheral pulses were palpable. The injured areas