About Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment

A Brief History

For over 300 years, scientists have noted the physical effects of climate and pressure conditions in patients.  In 1662 English clergy-man Henshaw operated the first pressure tight chamber and in 1774, with the discovery of oxygen, English scientist Priestley laid the foundation of hyperbaric oxygenation.

Since then, modern research has documented the results of Hyperbaric Oxygen medicine as a significant force in the treatment of numerous medical conditions.  In 1983, the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine was established for the purpose of collecting data and continuing research.  In 2002, the American Medical Association, FDA approved HBOT as primary or secondary treatment for more than 20 medical conditions.  Most insurance companies cover the 15 approved conditions.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is an adjunct treatment (except in some emergent cases) which allows the body, through physics, to absorb 100% oxygen into deficient tissues in need of healing.  Below is a clip from a recent lecture given by Dr. Robert Sanders.  Watch this for a better understanding of how Boyle’s Law and Henry’s Law through HBOT aid in wound care and healing.

Boyle's Law
Henry's Law

A patient undergoing Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment at American Hyperbaric Center spends a prescribed amount of time in a multi-place, dual-lock chamber where 100% oxygen is administered through mask or hood and atmospheric pressure is increased and controlled under meticulously monitored conditions. The dosage, which includes the depth of pressure, length, and frequency of treatments, is prescribed by our doctor for each patient’s particular needs.

At normal atmospheric pressure, oxygen is carried to body tissues is by the red blood cells. In some disease states, the increased pressure produced in the hyperbaric chamber permits the oxygen you breathe to be dissolved in the plasma. This extra dissolved oxygen in the blood plasma permits the delivery of oxygen to the tissues in your body in the amounts that can not occur by any other form of oxygen treatment (up to 10-15 times more).

Tissue swelling from leaking capillaries reduces blood flow and the number of white blood cells and other infection fighters that can reach the affected tissues. Those cells that do find their way to the area function less efficiently in a decreased oxygen environment. Hyperbaric therapy can reduce swelling by constricting blood vessels and with the saturation of oxygen in the plasma is able to bring nutrients to the affected tissue while keeping excess fluid out of the wound site. Granulation tissue can be seen within seven to ten days of starting a patient on hyperbaric therapy. By thirty days, this tissue can become densely supplied with blood vessels. Some of the most dangerous microbes in wounds are anaerobic. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can act directly by killing anaerobic organisms, stopping their multiplication, and neutralizing the toxins that some of them produce. It also helps antibiotics work more effectively.

Providers with patients scheduled for radiation therapy of the head/neck area should consider HBOT following Marx Protocol when post-irradiation dental care to the mandible is necessary.  Marx Protocol (Robert E. Marx, DDS 1984) is 20 pre-surgical, 10 post-surgical treatments exercised with regard to the delayed effects of radiation.

In brief, HBOT: