San Ramon Regional Medical Center’s Advanced Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center provides care for people with even the most difficult-to-treat, chronic wounds, including those occurring in patients who have undergone radiation therapy for cancer. The center offers hyperbaric oxygen therapy, an approved and effective treatment for radiation injuries

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 2,114,850 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2026. It is estimated that half of all cancer patients will receive radiation therapy, which has saved millions of lives by targeting and destroying cancer cells. One of the unfortunate side effects of radiation therapy is that moderate to severe skin damage is estimated to occur in approximately 95% of patients who undergo this treatment for cancer.

“Our multidisciplinary team has specific training in the most advanced techniques for treating chronic, hard-to-heal wounds, including wounds resulting from radiation therapy,” said Denis Shakhnovich, the center’s nurse manager. “Typically, these are the most difficult wounds to treat. Radiation therapy fundamentally alters the cellular structure in areas of the body where it is used to treat cancer, often causing damage to the skin and surrounding tissues. One of the key components of healing is having a proper blood supply, with adequate oxygen, reaching the damaged area. In patients who have undergone radiation therapy, the damage makes this more difficult.”

The center’s staff and physicians use evidence-based protocols to provide patients with customized evaluations and treatment, including debridement (surgical removal of dead or infected tissue in the wound), medicated dressings, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy to promote healing. Patients also receive nutrition and exercise education to help minimize recurrence of their wounds.

Patients who undergo hyperbaric oxygen therapy breathe 100% oxygen while lying in a pressurized chamber. Breathing 100% oxygen under pressure dissolves more oxygen in the patient’s blood, which is then delivered to those areas in the body that are having trouble healing due to the lack of oxygen in the surrounding tissues.

Annabell Bush is one of the center’s most recent patient success stories. Following radiation therapy for melanoma in 2011, Bush, now 96, was left with a stubborn, recurring wound in her left armpit that just would not heal. None of the medical professionals she consulted over the years was able to treat it successfully. Then, a relative who works at San Ramon Regional Medical Center recommended the hospital’s Advanced Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center.

After trying several different therapies, Bush’s caregivers at the center provided her with an intensive course of 60 hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments over 12 weeks – two hours a day, five days a week. “We knew Annabell’s wound would be difficult to heal and she was a real trouper. She was always optimistic. She always had a smile and a joke when she came in for her treatments,” Shakhnovich said.

After completing hyperbaric oxygen therapy in September 2025, Bush received follow-up care for several months at the wound care center and in her daughter’s Dublin home. On Feb. 9, 2026, she was officially discharged, her wound finally healed.

Bush, who has 14 grandchildren and “15 or 16” great grandchildren, is grateful for the excellent care she received – and relieved that her wound is now healed. “I really can’t say enough about how well they treated me,” she said. “It’s the best medical experience I’ve ever had – and I’m 96 years old! I would recommend them every day of my life!”

To learn more about the San Ramon Regional Medical Center’s Advanced Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center, go to www.sanramonmedctr.com/woundcare