What is hyperbaric oxygen treatment?It is the administration of oxygen at high pressure to a patient. Hyperbaric treatment increases the amount of oxygen available throughout the body.
The treatment must be administered in a specially designed and reinforced chamber. Ideally, the chamber will accommodate up to 10 people which allows a number of patients to be treated at the same time as well allowing medical and nursing staff to attend a patient. It must also be fitted with a range of medical monitoring equipment such as a cardiograph and blood pressure monitor, which are of a type that minimise the risk of fire associated with large concentrations of oxygen.
In 1956, in the days before heart/lung bypass machines, a Dutch cardiac surgeon was looking for a method to increase the available time to operate on the heart. He reasoned that if he could somehow increase the amount of dissolved oxygen in the tissues while he interrupted the blood supply, the tissues would survive for longer without being damaged.
Following animal and human experiments, he proved that relatively high amounts of oxygen can be physically dissolved in plasma under pressure - enough to meet the patients ongoing needs in the absence of circulating blood.
What disorders, other than decompression sickness, benefit from hyperbaric oxygen?
According to the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society in the US, hyperbaric oxygen is a recognised treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning, gas gangrene, crush injuries, problem wound healing and extreme blood-loss anaemia. It is also used to enhance healing in certain bone and soft tissue infections as well as problem skin grafts.
Radiation tissue damage is a recognised side effect of radiotherapy given to cancer patients. Blood vessels in areas exposed to high doses of radiation gradually close over. As a result, the tissue supplied by the arteries loses its oxygen supply and becomes fibrosed. Hyperbaric oxygen works by increasing the amount of oxygen in the tissues, which can then regenerate.
Often combined with soft tissue grafting, high pressure oxygen therapy can be crucial in the maintenance of quality of life for cancer patients following successful radiation treatment. Treatment of necrotising fasciitis, dubbed "flesh-eating disease" by the media, has been enhanced by hyperbaric oxygen. This is a form of progressive gangrene caused by bacteria. High-pressure oxygen treatment improves the function of white blood cells, which are responsible for killing the bacteria, as well helping to preserve tissue whose blood supply has been disrupted by the condition.