Topical Oxygen Therapy Can Reduce Related Symptoms Of Malignant Fungating Wounds In Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Observational Case Series Study

Purpose: Malignant fungating wounds (MFWs) are particularly difficult to treat, so we carried out an observational, retrospective study to determine the effect of topical oxygen therapy (TOT) on malignant fungating wounds in patients with breast cancer. Methods: From January 2014 to June 2018, 53 patients with breast cancer who had MFWs were enrolled in this study from the Department of Breast Internal Medicine. The patients received non-TOT routine treatment in the first three days, including wound cleaning with hydrogen peroxide and iodophor and wound bandaging and then received TOT in the next three days, mainly including routine wound cleaning, oxygen provided through a catheter, and wound bandaging. A retrospective analysis was carried out to compare the wound length, odour, exudate weight, serum inflammatory indexes (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-10 (IL-10)), oxidative stress indexes (malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx)), hemorrhage, tissue bacteriology, pain degree (VAS), and life quality score (QLQ-C30) between two groups before and after the TOT of MFWs. Results: Compared with non-TOT, TOT significantly alleviated the odour, exudation, hemorrhage, and anaerobic infection of the wound surface in malignant breast tumors, and also greatly decreased the levels of serum CRP, IL-6, and MDA and increased the levels of IL-10, SOD, and GSHPx. In addition, there was no significant difference between patients treated with non-TOT and those treated with TOT, and patients treated with TOT obtained significantly higher QLQ-C30 scores. Conclusion: Our research suggests that TOT may be a safe and effective approach to treat MFWs in patients with breast cancer.