Compressed
Oxygen
Hyperbaric Therapy
A healthy person's hemoglobin (the red in red blood cells) holds 97% of the maximum amount of oxygen from normal air or 100% when breathing pure oxygen. This oxygen tension level (or oxygen partial pressure, Po2) is measured in units labeled mmHg. Whether you breathe air or pure oxygen, red blood cells can only deliver a limited level of oxygen to tissue cells, a Po2 of 40 mmHg or less. Injuries, infections and diseases can cause a drop in this tissue oxygen level down to almost zero!
As we age we loose vital
capacity and the ability to effectively obtain adequate oxygen. Some disease
conditions impair oxygen utilization. Forceful injuries with swelling can cause
excessive pressure that cuts off healthy circulation flow. Swollen tissue
causes a loss of oxygen circulation to areas of the body called ischemia. This
problem drops the Po2 dangerously low, destroys tissue and slows healing.
Research has shown optimal
tissue healing occurs if Po2 can rise to 80 mmHg. Oxygen given in a normal
room is not enough to raise tissue oxygen levels that high because red blood
cells cannot carry enough extra oxygen to do that. Every day an average
adult consumes four pounds of food, two pounds of water and almost 6 pounds of
oxygen. People consume nearly the same amount of oxygen by weight compared to
food and water combined! From that six pounds of oxygen about 2 pounds gets
into the blood for transport. However, sit inside a secure chamber pressurized
at twice the normal air pressure and you breathe double the number of
molecules. (Hyperbaric pressure allows breathing that is more efficient.)
Breathing pure oxygen in such a chamber gives us 10 times our regular amount of
oxygen. In one hour we can then inhale 2.4 pounds of oxygen! Instantly red
blood cells fill with oxygen and the extra oxygen dissolves directly into the
blood fluid. In a few minutes this extra oxygen builds up tissue oxygen levels
far above normal. This action has been scientifically proven to stimulate
healing function. In order to raise tissue oxygen tension to 80 mmHg for
optimal healing one must have oxygen delivered under compressed atmosphere
conditions, hyperbaric oxygen therapy!
Hyperbaric oxygen improves
defender blood cells by turning them from ordinary scavengers into efficient
warriors. These defender cells use oxygen as the ammunition to kill pathogens.
Can you imagine ten times the normal ammunition supply? This is why people with
serious infections have improved under hyperbaric oxygen even after failing
under standard regimes. The modern way to raise tissue oxygen levels and
purge away ischemic trouble is with hyperbaric oxygen. Most everyone can enjoy
the hyperbaric experience. Generally, you must be free from
claustrophobia and be able to clear changes in ear pressure. The actual
experience is little different than sitting in an airplane for one hour,
without the movement! There are two styles of hyperbaric chambers. The single
patient monoplace or a larger style multiplace for more than one. Either one
does essentially the same, a pressurized atmosphere to breathe oxygen. What
could be easier? Relax and heal with safe, reliable oxygen.
Now let's see what we can help with hyperbaric oxygenation:
Here we see some thermal burns
(2nd and 3rd degree burns) [In the download there are photographs of various burn wounds]This is a sequence of pictures taken after a severe burn from boiling, sticky fluid accidentally dumped on a bare leg. From left to right, taken one day after the initial burn, then two and four weeks after the burn. Hyperbaric oxygen was begun 12 hours after this injury. (It would have been better to start sooner.) The patient was initially in severe pain but she declared that her pain ceased during her first hyperbaric session, and the pain never returned! In five weeks her leg completely healed without any scar formation. She had no other medical intervention except for the hyperbaric oxygen. The quick cessation of pain with the eventual wound resolution demonstrates that hyperbaric oxygen has remarkable healing properties. Skeptics may say, this is merely anecdotal promotion of a potential therapy. Therefore, we look to science for proof. There is a published prospective, randomized, double blind study that proves hyperbaric oxygen helps heal burns. The Effect of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on a Burn Wound Model in Human Volunteers Journal of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons May 1997 volume 99, #6 Hyperbaric therapy treats diseases caused by ischemia (oxygen depletion in tissues) with a phenomenal increase of oxygen into the blood circulation. To get the increased oxygen level you must be inside a pressure vessel. Think in these terms: pressure is the power, oxygen is the agent. They work together. Hyperbaric oxygen helps displace accumulated nitrogen bubbles in-patients with decompression sickness. The chamber helps patients with carbon monoxide poisoning and can reduce the oxygen starving effect noted in related cyanide poisoning (industrial fires have smoke that often contains cyanide). The extra oxygen in hyperbaric therapy diffuses directly into the plasma and can help patients with blood loss and anemia problems. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy produces helpful blood vessel constriction while promoting tissue health with an abundance of oxygen; thus, hyperbaric oxygen reduces swelling after burns or crush injuries and protects cellular function. Hyperbaric oxygen reduces tissue damage in osteoradionecrosis (radiation tissue damage). Plastic surgeons have used hyperbaric therapy to improve the outcome of compromised skin grafts and to enhance healing in selected problem wounds.
Hyperbaric oxygen can also
improve function of the immune system. Hyperbaric therapy has an anti-bacterial
effect against anaerobic bacteria. Immune system blood cells function better to
kill pathogenic microbes when oxygen concentrations are optimal. This action
helps control infections such as osteomyelitis (unmanageable bone disease). Improved
immunity can reduce chronic
infections such as
Actinomycosis (caused by the anaerobic gram-positive
microorganism Actinomyces israelii; control bacterial infections associated with clostridial myonecrosis (gangrene) and necrotizing soft tissue infections (deadly skin ulcers). The combined action of hyperbaric oxygen helps improve outcomes in selected problem wounds that might otherwise progress toward amputation. Michael Capria, the director of Tampa Hyperbaric Enterprise says, Hyperbaric oxygen can indeed save lives and limbs.
Early Hyperbaric History
- 1620 Cornelius Drebbel developed a diving bell
for underwater work
- 1662 Henshaw used compressed air for the
treatment of pulmonary disease
- 1670 Boyle gave the first description of
decompression phenomenon
- 1837 Pravaz of France
constructed largest hyperbaric chamber of that time to treat a variety of
aliments
- 1921 Orville J. Cunningham
completed construction on a hyperbaric chamber in Lawrence, Kansas used to
treat a variety of aliments
- 1928 Cunningham built a 64' steel hyperbaric sphere with five floors in Cleveland
- 1928 Harvard Medical School
built a hyperbaric chamber for research
In Veterinary Medicine:
It is ironic that hyperbaric
research first used animals to demonstrate the
effectiveness of hyperbaric
oxygen for human disease treatment; now
veterinarians are using
hyperbaric oxygen to treat animals! The variety of conditions treated
include the general categories of gastrointestinal pathology,neurological
applications, infection and wound control, vascular pathology, heart pathology,
and oncological applications. There are many specific selected
applications including placenta hypoxia, complicated eclampsia, venom-induced
myonecrosis, brown recluse spider envenomation, diabetes mellitus, chronic
hearing disorders, toxic goiter and so on. It appears that animal
treatment is not encumbered by the same restrictions placed on human treatment
so there are more applications tried with successful outcomes. This
should help propel research for human disease treatment in the near future.
In China:
The first Chinese hyperbaric
chamber was built in 1964 by Wen-ren Li, M.D. and that today more than 800
hyperbaric chambers are in use today. The number of people treated with
hyperbaric oxygen is exceeding 3.5 million and that officially more than 60
kinds of diseases are treated with this therapy.
In Italy:
Hyperbaric techniques are so
widely appreciated that physicians have been disciplined for not giving
hyperbaric therapy where it would have been clearly helpful. Italy has
nearly the largest number (34%) of European hyperbaric installations.
Update on the recently reported hyperbaric chamber fire in Italy: This
fire started after a couple of rare errors: 1) One patient had a (prohibited)
pocket warmer inside the chamber. 2) The water deluge system was empty for
repairs. 3) The oxygen flow to the hoods was started without the overboard dump
function. These errors can easily be eliminated in the future by: 1)
Close patient supervision. 2) Close supervision of all maintenance work
on chamber 3) Only start the oxygen flow in multiplace chambers when
patients are ready to put them over their heads and constantly monitor the chamber
oxygen percentage. Refresh the chamber with new air if the oxygen level
rises to unacceptable levels.
In Russia:
Unverified reports suggest
that the largest number of chambers are located in Russia (over 1200 in current
use). Hyperbaric oxygen is used in almost every branch of clinical
medicine in over 60 medical institutions either as an extra therapy or as a
basic treatment.