Wound monitoring of pH and oxygen in patients after radiation therapy.
OBJECTIVES
Postradiogenic wound healing disorders are an important clinical problem. While a variety of treatment modalities are available, there is no strategy to objectively judge treatment success. The aim of this study was to evaluate a 2D luminescence imaging system for pH and oxygen in non-healing wounds after radiotherapy.


METHODS
Luminescence 2D imaging was performed with the VisiSens (Presens, Regensburg, Germany) 2D imaging systems A1 and A2 for oxygen and pH, respectively. Biocompatible planar luminescent sensor foils were applied to non-irradiated and irradiated skin as well as to radiogenic wounds of five patients and the pH and the oxygen saturation was determined.


RESULTS
pH measurements showed significant differences between non-irradiated skin (6.46 ± 0.18) and irradiated skin (6.96 ± 0.26). Radiogenic wounds exhibited the highest pH values (7.53 ± 0.26). Oxygen measurements revealed a mean oxygen saturation of non-irradiated skin of 6.19 ± 0.83 mmHg. The highest value of oxygen saturation (28.4 ± 2.4 mmHg) was found on irradiated skin while irradiated wounds had a poor oxygen saturation (9.4 ± 2.2 mmHg) (mean ± s.e.m.).


CONCLUSION
We found that routine measurement of pH and pO2 in patients could be easily integrated into the clinical routine. The results of the measurements show unfavorable pH and oxygen saturation conditions for wound healing in irradiated wounds. Interestingly, irradiated wounds exhibit a more pronounced hypoxia than irradiated skin which is reflected by an altered pH and pO2 compared to unirradiated skin, which has the potential to serve as a prognostic marker in the future. In addition to the objectification of the treatment success of postradiogenic wound healing disorders, the extent of skin toxicity could already be predicted during radiotherapy with this method.
['Auerswald|Steffen|S|', 'Schreml|Stephan|S|', 'Meier|Robert|R|', 'Blancke Soares|Alexandra|A|', 'Niyazi|Maximilian|M|', 'Marschner|Sebastian|S|', 'Belka|Claus|C|', 'Canis|Martin|M|', 'Haubner|Frank|F|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6198-2966']
D000368:Aged D004423:Ear D006801:Humans D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration D000860:Hypoxia D049449:Luminescence D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009333:Neck D009369:Neoplasms D010100:Oxygen D011878:Radiotherapy D012867:Skin D014139:Tracheostomy D014945:Wound Healing
pH Oxygen Wound healing Luminescence Radiotherapy