Uses of Hyperbaric Chambers

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has evolved into a treatment option for dozens of medical conditions. While it's a primary procedure for some disorders, it has also become a secret weapon that provides exemplary benefit when used in support of accompanying treatments.

Effects

• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is the medical process of breathing 100 percent oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure. The patient enters a specialized hyperbaric chamber that regulates the flow of oxygen and controls air pressure.

  HBOT allows the blood to carry more oxygen to the tissues, promoting new tissue and blood vessel growth and assisting in the healing process by permitting skin grafting or spontaneous healing, say physicians at The Hyperbaric Medicine Center at the University of California at San Diego. A high level of oxygen in the blood helps to fight infections caused by a variety of bacteria, some that only live in the absence of oxygen. It also enables white blood cells to destroy many kinds of bacteria more efficiently.

Decompression

• Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has long been established as a treatment for complications from diving like decompression sickness, also known as "the bends." This occurs when excess nitrogen gas forms bubbles in body tissues. The bubbles can only be cleared when washed out by the blood during decompression. An arterial gas embolism can also form as divers ascend to the surface. These can block the flow of blood and damage blood vessel linings that supply oxygen to all critical organs. Decompression is one of the primary uses for hyperbaric chambers.

Primary Uses

• The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society formed a committee in 1976 that established a list of conditions for which HBOT should always be approved. The therapy proves especially useful in treating carbon monoxide poisoning. Hyperbaric oxygen quickens the cleansing of carbon monoxide from the body.

  Injuries where bodily tissues have been crushed from gunshot wounds, falls or motor vehicle accidents can benefit from HBOT as increased oxygen is moved to the affected wounds, hastening healing and battling infection.

  The therapy is also highly recommended for burn injuries, skin grafts, the healing of wounds which refuse to respond to normal medical treatment (particularly where amputation of a limb is a possibility), delayed radiation injury, gas gangrene, anemia and excessive blood loss, and intracranial abscess.

Other Uses

• Physicians in the fields of infectious disease, radiation oncology, plastic surgery, emergency medicine, orthopedics, oral surgery and general surgery have all begun to utilize HBOT in certain situations within their specialties. Aside from decompression, the therapy is normally used as a supplemental treatment rather than a primary procedure.

  Richard A. Neubauer and Morton Walker in their book "Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy" detail a wide variety of additional medical conditions that have been treated with HBOT. These include stroke, brain and spinal cord injuries, migraine headaches, sensory problems, multiple sclerosis, bone disorders, complications from radiation treatment and cosmetic surgery, circulatory problems and AIDS.

Research

• Physicians and scientists continue to search for additional hyperbaric uses for dozens of illnesses including Parkinson's Disease, Crohn's Disease, autism and traumatic brain injuries.