Do you know what a cutaneous fistula is? If you have ever had one, you would definitely know.
A cutaneous fistula is a tract from an internal organ or tissue to the surface of the skin. It can be caused by a surgical procedure that did not heal well, or by an infection. Either way, fistulas can be a problem.
That’s because they usually constantly drain body fluids or infected pus, and they often don’t heal. The usual treatment is surgery and antibiotics, but as you will see, that’s often not effective.
At the recent congress of The American Academy of Ozonotherapy (AAO) Dr. Heinz Konrad, MD of Sao Paolo, Brazil reported on a remarkable case of a chronic draining fistula that would not heal. That is until he introduced ozone therapy. Dr. Konrad is a well-known figure in the international ozone community. He’s an accomplished general and gynecological surgeon and has been using ozone therapy in his general medical practice ever since 1978. He has written many papers on ozone therapy. In short, he is a legend in this field. Here are the specs of the case he discussed.
Carlos was a 43-year-old man who had gone through cardiac bypass surgery. Unfortunately, the wound became infected, and after 40 days in the hospital, he was released with two fistulas over his breastbone area, the area called the sternum on the front of the chest. The fistulas were infected and were constantly draining pus. Despite the continued use of antibiotics over many months, the doctors were unable to cause the fistula to dry up and heal. His doctors told him that they would never heal, and he would just have to live with it. That’s when Carlos first contacted Dr. Konrad.
Dr. Konrad began to give Carlos a systemic treatment of ozone called Major Autotherapy twice a week. In addition, he injected ozone directly into the fistulas three times a week. The healing went slowly primarily because there were wire sutures in the area of the infection. Doctors know that it’s often impossible to heal an infection when there’s any foreign material in the area, especially wires, plates, screws, pins, etc. But they were not willing to remove the wires for fear that his chest would open up. So, against all odds, here’s what happened.
After two months of treatment from Dr. Konrad, the wounds were 50% better. After four months, one of the fistulas had closed up. And six months after that, both fistulas had completely closed up. A complete healing had taken place. Sure, it took a long time. But with those wires in there, it’s still an amazing story.
I recently dealt with a similar case of a man who had cardiac surgery, but who developed an infection of his breastbone after the surgery. The doctors needed to give him a heart transplant, but they were not willing to do that until the infection cleared up. Unfortunately, despite the best conventional wound care and a year of antibiotics, the infection wouldn’t clear.
In addition to the conventional care, I gave him Major Autotherapy treatments every week along with ozone treatments directly to the wound twice a week. After only four weeks, his infection seemed to be gone and he was cleared for surgery.
Both of these cases are reminders that any infection, no matter how difficult it is to treat, will respond better if ozone therapy is added to the equation. You can find doctors trained in ozone therapy at the AAO website, www.aaot.us.