Brief History of the Anders Oxygen Therapy Products and the Topical Hyperbaric Lower Leg Extremity Chamber

The Anders Corporation was founded in 1950 by Frank Avery Jr. as a manufacturer of plastic products including medical disposables. The company was aptly named "Anders", which means "something different" in German. One of the early products was an oxygen canopy, which was used for the treatment of a variety of pulmonary diseases including heart attacks. Distributed through Medico Hospital Supply, the first heart attack of then President Dwight D. Eisenhower was treated with an Anders Oxygen Tent.

In 1994, the late Phil Loori of Wound Care Systems contacted Anders to manufacture a sacral oxygen therapy wound closure device. This method of therapy was invented by Boguslav Fischer, M.D. and is first described in "Topical Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment of Pressure Sores and Skin Ulcers", Lancet August 23, 1969 (1). Over the years we have manufactured thousands of these disposables. Later, Dr. Fischer went on to invent the lower leg hyperbaric treatment chamber which is described in the Journal of Dermatological Surgery (2). In 1998 Anders redesigned this chamber and the associated control box for Phil. This system has remained in production ever since.

Frank Avery, Jr. The founder of the Anders Corporation

Medical Implications of Topical Hyperbaric Treatment

As reported by Dr. Fischer, the results of both the sacral unit and leg chamber were dramatic although the exact nature of the treatment success was not understood. In order to get the pressure level of the portable chamber closer to that of full-body hyperbaric treatment, pulsating therapy was developed in the late 1970's. This is described in U.S. Patents 5,060,644 and 4,236,513. Although the pulsating therapy was developed to eliminate the "tourniquet effect" of the leg seal, the positive pressure pulsation was also found to further improve wound closure. Years later the same effect, this time utilizing negative pressure, is the cornerstone of the widely successful Vacuum Assisted Closure (VAC) system sold by KCI.

Despite the anecdotal evidence that this treatment method works, scientists have remained curious as to how hyperbaric oxygen promotes wound healing. Recent research has demonstrated that hyperbaric oxygen treatment can stimulate angiogenesis. Specifically, VEGF, the main angiogenic regulator, up-regulated mRNA and protein levels by hyperbaric oxygen (3). While it has been long understood that the oxygen molecule plays a central role in the reparative process of wound healing, its ability to act as an angiogenic regulator along with its ability to stimulate collagen synthesis which is important in the wound healing process has also been demonstrated (4). In conclusion it is evident that topical oxygen can oxygenate wound tissue and since regeneration of new tissues occurs on the surface, topical hyperbaric oxygen to open wounds provides the benefits of oxygen without the risks presented by whole body treatment for systemic toxicity (5)(6). In addition the pulsating therapy further enhances healing. The entire healing system is lightweight and portable such that therapy can be performed in any acute or sub-acute care setting. Thus for lower extremity wounds at risk for amputation, the topical hyperbaric oxygen extremity chamber is the clear choice.

References:

1) "Topical Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment of Pressure Sores and Skin Ulcers", Fischer, B., Lancet, August 23, 1969

2) "Treatment of Ulcers on the Legs with Hyperbaric Oxygen", Fischer, B, J. of Derm. Surg. 1:3, October 1975

3) "Hyperbaric oxygen induces VEGF expression through ERK, JNK and c-Jun/AP-1 activation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells", Chun-Chung Lee et al, J. of Biomed, Sci., (2006) 13:143-156.

4) "Effect of hyperbaric oxygen on pro-collagen on messenger RNA level and collagen synthesis in healing of rat tendon laceration". Ishii Y., et al Tissue Eng. 5:279-386, 1999.

5) "Genotoxicy of hyperbaric oxygen", G. Speit, et al Mut. Res. 512(2002) 161-167, N.

6) "Central nervous system oxygen toxicity during routine hyperbaric oxygen therapy", Hampson, D. Atik, Undersea Hyperb. Med. 30(2003) 147-153 {content}