Health News: Oxygen that Heals (continued)

Patients lie in a horizontal total body chamber with transparent double-acrylic walls. When the chamber is sealed, patients inhale 10 times as much oxygen as at sea level and experience approximately twice the atmospheric pressure. They rarely feel any more discomfort than they would from changes in air pressure during airplane travel.

While in the chamber patients can communicate with the attending technicians who are able to closely monitor patients. Patients have a clear outward view and most choose to take a nap, listen to music, or even watch television.

In addition to problem wounds, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is also used for tissue damage following radiation therapy, preparation for tooth extraction in areas previously treated with radiation, crush injuries, exceptional blood loss, intracranial abscess, decompression sickness and carbon monoxide poisoning. The frequency and duration of hyperbaric oxygen therapy varies considerably depending on the condition, although typical treatment is two hours per day, five days a week.

In the case of carbon monoxide poisoning, hyperbaric oxygen can quickly increase the level of oxygen circulating the body. Those exposed to carbon monoxide are often transported to Fort Duncan Medical Center by ambulance to take advantage of its unique service.

Hyperbaric medicine is so valuable in the case of carbon monixide poisoning because it prevents long term damage to the brain.

Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center's hyperbaric medicine program has provided therapy to hundreds of patients since 1996 and continues to grow each year. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is reimbursed by many health plans, including Medicare.

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