Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy speeds up your natural healing processes. HBO boosts oxygen levels in your blood and plasma by 15 to 20 times the normal amount. The blood circulating in your body floods your tissues with much-needed oxygen that helps fight infection, Increased oxygen also encourages the formation of new small blood vessels that deliver more oxygenated blood to cells and tissues.

The benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy include:

• Faster wound healing
• Preservation of damaged tissues
• Infection control
• Increased blood vessel formation
• Reduction in post-traumatic edema
• Improved amputation prevention

What to expect during HBO

During HBO therapy, you breathe 100% oxygen while comfortably lying inside a hyperbaric treatment chamber set at a pressure greater than sea level.

While in the hyperbaric chamber you may listen to music or watch movies or television shows. With the increased oxygen, you may feel a temporary fullness in your ears, very similar to how you might feel on an airplane.

Each treatment session lasts approximately two hours, and most wounds require 30 to 40 treatments. However, this is dependent on your individual case. As with any treatment, there could be possible side effects, which are generally minimal.

Conditions treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Your care team will advise if hyperbaric oxygen therapy is right for you. Some of the conditions that HBO can treat include:

• Diabetic wounds
• Chronic and refractory osteomyelitis
• Late effects of radiation
  
• Preservation of skin graft/flap
  
• Crush injury
  
• Osteoradionecrosis of the mandible
  
• Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss
  
• Central retinal artery occlusion