Not Every Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Is the Same
To ensure that your tissues and organs are functioning correctly, oxygen moves from your lungs to your blood and then to them when you inhale. A greater concentration of compressed oxygen can aid in healing in some situations, such as when you have a severe wound or infection. HBOT, or hyperbaric oxygen treatment, is the term for this.
According to Scott Gorenstein, M.D., head of hyperbaric wound care services at New York University Langone Hospital-Long Island, “it’s a medical treatment that’s been around for a very long time.”
In the past, HBOT has been connected to the bends, also known as decompression sickness, which is frequently connected to scuba diving. However, it has been employed for several different medicinal uses in the last several decades.
According to Nilufer Norsworthy, M.D., an internal medicine specialist at the University of Washington Medicine’s Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Center in Seattle, “it’s basically using oxygen as a pharmacological agent.” “High blood oxygen levels have been shown to be very beneficial.”
Here is a summary of the problems HBOT is approved to treat, how it works, and why a doctor is the best person to administer the therapy for safety and effectiveness.
How is hyperbaric oxygen treatment given, and what is it?
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, breathing 100% oxygen at 1.5–3 times the normal air pressure is known as HBOT.
According to Gorenstein, “that physiologically dissolves 10 to 20 times more oxygen into your bloodstream.” “It causes a number of different physiologic events and permits oxygen to circulate throughout your body.”
According to Barbara Krantz, D.O., Florida medical director of the Older Adults Program, Withdrawal Management, and Chronic Pain at Caron Treatment Centers, this procedure can enrich your red blood cells and plasma with oxygen and distribute it to areas that are oxygen-deficient. Additionally, the treatment can promote the growth of new blood vessels, assist repair infections, and lessen swelling in injured tissue.
A hyperbaric oxygen treatment room is used to administer it. According to Nosrworthy, there are two kinds. A monoplane chamber, which looks like an MRI scanner, is designed for a single individual. A multi-place chamber, on the other hand, is a space that can accommodate several persons simultaneously, and each person gets oxygen using an oxygen mask.
Depending on their medical condition, patients usually require several sessions, with each treatment lasting around an hour or two, according to Norsworthy. During the operation, you can speak with the technicians using an intercom system as they give HBOT.