Hyperbaric Training 
My Bio Sketch
What
is this Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?
 Hyperbaric
(hi-per-bare-ik) medicine is essentially the study of medical
and physiological problems, and therapeutic applications of
greater then sea level barometric pressure. Hyperbaric oxygenation
is accomplished by having the patient breathe 100% oxygen either
by face mask, headhood or endotracheal tube in a full body,
compressed air (or oxygen pressurized monoplace) chamber. Hyperbaric
oxygen (HBO) is simply intermittent, short term, high-dose oxygen
inhalation therapy.
 A
century of research in oxygen administration has established
that the effects are dose related, and the hyperbaric environment
merely provides the opportunity to give higher doses than can
be achieved at sea level. How does this occur? The air we breathe
is approximately 20 percent oxygen and 80 percent nitrogen.
Therefore, if pure oxygen is breathed, on the surface, the inhaled
oxygen concentration is increased by five times. In a hyperbaric
chamber inhaled oxygen transported to the tissues will increase
10 to 20 times. Today hyperbaric oxygen is the primary treatment
for decompression sickness and arterial gas embolism. It is
not used as a substitute for another form of traditional therapy.
Rather, it is used as adjunctive treatment for disorders, which
demonstrate a sound physiological basis for its use. Hyperbaric
oxygen therapy can promote healing and aid in the treatment
of disorders involving oxygen deficiency
Although
HBO is well known for its effectiveness in treating decompression
illness, it also has beneficial healing effects for other conditions
including:
- Carbon
monoxide poisoning
- Gas gangrene
- Chronic
bone infections
- Select
non-healing wounds
- Radiation
tissue damage
- Arterial
insufficiency, such as crush injuries and compartment syndromes
What follows
is a list of what are considered "approved" indications
for hyperbaric oxygen therapy:
- Air or
Gas Embolism
- Carbon
Monoxide Poisoning and Smoke Inhalation Carbon Monoxide Complicated
by Cyanide Poisoning
- Clostridial
Myonecrosis (Gas gangrene)
- Crush Injury,
Compartment Syndrome, and Other Acute Traumatic Ischemias
- Decompression
Sickness
- Enhancement
of Healing in Selected Problem Wounds
- Exceptional
Blood Loss (Anemia)
- Necrotizing
Soft Tissue Infections (Subcutaneous Tissue, Muscle, Fascia)
- Osteomyelitis
(Refractory)-Cierny and Mader classification system
- Systemic
or local factors that affect immune surveillance, metabolism,
and local vascularity
- Radiation
Tissue Damage (Osteoradionecrosis or soft tissue radiation necrosis)
- Skin Grafts
and Flaps (Compromised)
- Thermal
Burns
- Adjunctive
Hyperbaric Oxygen in Intracranial Abscess
Other
indications, which are currently being researched (but not
widely accepted):
- Closed
Head Injury
- Traumatic
Brain Injury
- Cerebral
Palsy
- Stroke
- Near Drowning
- Myocardial
Infarction (heart attack)
- Chronic
Fatigue (as seen in HIV)
Hyperbaric Training
My Bio Sketch
© 2001-2004 Jeff Bertsch. All Rights Reserved. |
