Abstract
A 61-year-old female was transferred to our intensive care unit because of severe pain in the buttocks and back. Based on the results of blood examination and CT imaging, a diagnosis of infectious spondylitis/diskitis, with iliopsoas abscess was made. Blood culture grew Staphylococcus aureus. The appropriate antibiotics and gamma globulin were administered and abscess drainage was performed. However, the patient showed no improvement. Therefore, hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy was added from the 22nd hospital day. Thereafter, the patient's general condition was steadily improved, and she was discharged from our ICU on the 42nd hospital day. The efficacy of HBO therapy has been reported previously for the treatment of diseases such as gas gangrene and osteomyelitis. More recently, various reports on the efficacy of HBO for aerobic bacterial infections have also been published. We propose that HBO therapy might be useful for the treatment of infections in patients who do not show satisfactory response to conventional therapy.
