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The Office of Health Technology Assessment (OHTA) emphasizes three basic principles in its assessment activities: (1) broad and open participation both within and outside of the Federal government, (2) reliance on the expertise and research abilities of outside organizations and individuals, and (3) broad dissemination of assessment reports. This assessment focuses on hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) in treatment of severed limbs. There appears to be a rational theoretical basis for using HBO therapy as an adjunctive treatment for replanted limbs and parts of limbs that is based on physiological studies demonstrating the effects of HBO therapy on complex wounds. Nevertheless, a substantial body of evidence to support its effectiveness in clinical practice is lacking. The use of HBO therapy as an adjunctive treatment in the replantation of limbs does not appear to be widespread. In 1983 only 53 patients with replantations were treated with HBO therapy at the 200 locations in the United States with hyperbaric medicine units. In 1982, 64 patients were treated.