Pros & Cons of Hyperbaric Treatment

A hyperbaric chamber allows a patient to breathe pure oxygen in a pressured room. This promotes healing, because the oxygen-rich blood releases stem cells and growth factors.

The pros for traumatic injuries

• Hyperbaric treatment increases the pace of healing for people suffering from traumatic injuries such as crush injuries, skin grafts, gangrene and wounds that won't heal.

Medical conditions and oxygen

• Patients suffering from anemia and bubbles of air in the blood vessels also benefit from using hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

The risks

• Infusing oxygen into the body carries the risk of temporary nearsightedness (myopia), inner ear damage from the increased air pressure and seizures from too much oxygen in the nervous system.

Reduction of effects

• Pressure and swelling after a traumatic head injury can be reduced with a hyperbaric chamber, but one study found that the effect did not last long and the pressure eventually returned to high levels.

The downside

• One potential downside to hyperbaric treatment is that increasing the oxygen level in tissue may increase free radicals, which damage muscle cells.