Hyperbaric oxygen remedy entails breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized environment. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a well-established remedy for decompression sickness, a potential risk of scuba diving. Other conditions treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy embody serious infections, bubbles of air in your blood vessels, and wounds that won’t heal as a result of diabetes or radiation injury.
In a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, the air pressure is increased two to 3 instances higher than normal air pressure. Under these conditions, your lungs can collect a lot more oxygen than would be doable breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure.
When your blood carries this further oxygen all through your body, this helps combat micro organism and stimulate the release of substances called growth factors and stem cells, which promote healing.
Why it’s finished
Your body’s tissues want an adequate provide of oxygen to function. When tissue is injured, it requires even more oxygen to survive. Hyperbaric oxygen remedy increases the quantity of oxygen your blood can carry. With repeated scheduled therapies, the momentary additional high oxygen levels encourage regular tissue oxygen levels, even after the therapy is completed.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat a number of medical conditions. And medical institutions use it in several ways. Your physician might counsel hyperbaric oxygen therapy when you’ve got one of the following conditions:
Extreme anemia
Brain abscess
Bubbles of air in your blood vessels (arterial gas embolism)
Burns
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Crushing injury
Deafness, sudden
Decompression sickness
Gangrene
Infection of skin or bone that causes tissue loss of life
Nonhealing wounds, comparable to a diabetic foot ulcer
Radiation injury
Skin graft or skin flap at risk of tissue dying
Traumatic brain injury
Vision loss, sudden and painless
Risks
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is usually a safe procedure. Complications are rare. However this therapy does carry some risk.
Potential risks embrace:
Center ear injuries, together with leaking fluid and eardrum rupture, as a consequence of modifications in air pressure
Momentary nearsightedness (myopia) caused by short-term eye lens adjustments
Lung collapse caused by air pressure adjustments (barotrauma)
Seizures on account of an excessive amount of oxygen (oxygen toxicity) in your central nervous system
Lowered blood sugar in people who have diabetes handled with insulin
In sure circumstances, fire — due to the oxygen-rich setting of the remedy chamber
The way you prepare
You’ll be provided with a hospital-approved gown or scrubs to wear in place of common clothing in the course of the procedure.
To your safety, items resembling lighters or battery-powered gadgets that generate heat usually are not allowed into the hyperbaric chamber. In addition, you may must remove hair and skin care products which might be petroleum primarily based, as they’re a potential fire hazard. Your health care workforce will provide instruction on preparing you to undergo hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Throughout hyperbaric oxygen remedy
Hyperbaric oxygen remedy typically is performed as an outpatient procedure however can be provided while you might be hospitalized.
Basically, there are types of hyperbaric oxygen chambers:
A unit designed for 1 person. In a person (monoplace) unit, you lie down on a table that slides into a clear plastic chamber.
A room designed to accommodate several people. In a multiperson hyperbaric oxygen room — which usually looks like a big hospital room — you may sit or lie down. You might obtain oxygen by means of a mask over your face or a lightweight, clear hood placed over your head.
Whether you are in a person or multiperson setting for hyperbaric oxygen remedy, the benefits are the same.
Throughout therapy, the air pressure within the room is about to a few occasions the conventional air pressure. The increased air pressure will create a temporary feeling of fullness in your ears — just like what you would possibly feel in an airplane or at a high elevation. You’ll be able to relieve that feeling by yawning or swallowing.
For most conditions, hyperbaric oxygen therapy lasts approximately two hours. Members of your health care group will monitor you and the therapy unit all through your treatment.
After hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Your therapy workforce assesses you together with looking in your ears and taking your blood pressure and pulse. In case you have diabetes, your blood glucose is checked. Once the team decides you are ready, you can get dressed and leave.
Chances are you’ll really feel somewhat tired or hungry following your treatment. This doesn’t limit regular activities.
Outcomes
To benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy, you will likely need more than one session. The number of classes depends upon your medical condition. Some conditions, comparable to carbon monoxide poisoning, could be handled in three visits. Others, resembling nonhealing wounds, may require forty remedies or more.