Oxygen hyperbaric therapy in full development

• April 18, 2024

The hyperbaric oxygenation consists of administering oxygen at high pressure with therapeutic purpose . Its emergence and development are linked to compression and decompression methods, used as a treatment in underwater medicine. Although it is considered as a scientific novelty , there are references that already in the year 332 a.C., Alexander the Great used pressure chambers and in 1662, Henshaw, a British physiologist, made the first attempt to build a compressed air chamber as a therapeutic procedure. However, until the middle of the last century, the Dutch cardiovascular surgeon Ite Boerema achievement demonstrate the benefits of the mechanism .

Effects on the organism

According to the Latin American Association of Hyperbaric Medicine (ALMH), hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) is a branch of medicine in special environments in full development. its Therapeutic use is based on an increase in the capacity of diffusion Y tension of oxygen in body fluids, mainly in blood plasma, by breathing pure oxygen under conditions of high environmental pressure and inside hermetic containers called hyperbaric chambers. This action generates all a series of beneficial physical effects of great application in a growing number of diseases.

Diseases that can be treated with hyperbaric oxygen

The specialists of the ALMH indicate that the anticipation in the treatment of many diseases is a primary factor in order to obtain satisfactory results. Between the diseases Y sufferings which are considered "urgent" to deal with OHB include: diabetic foot , poisoning by carbon monoxide, smoke and / or cyanide and other tissue poisons; gangrene gaseous, decompressive illness (by diving), syndrome compartmental and others Ischemia traumatic acute Also herpes zoster, occlusion of the central artery of the retina and optic neuritis; as well as sudden deafness and acoustic trauma, and acute asphyxia such as incomplete drowning, strangulation, failed hanging, etc.

Among the non-urgent diseases, HBO is highly recommended to treat ophthalmological diseases such as corneal ulcers, eye infections, open-angle glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy; orthopedic problems such as aseptic necrosis of the adult, delay in the consolidation of fractures and as support for bone grafts. In neurological cases of multiple sclerosis , cerebral edema and as support for the rehabilitation of neurological sequelae. In gastroenterological diseases such as hepatitis acute viral type B, the liver failure acute or colitis ulcerative idiopathic The HBO is extremely useful as a support in the rehabilitation of various surgeries, as well as in the treatment of angiological, gynecological and urological diseases.

Most important contraindications

Although HBO is a relatively innocuous therapeutic method, it is not recommended for people suffering from claustrophobia, incompatibility with certain medications, acute respiratory infections, lung disease chronic obstructive , epilepsy , hypertension decompensated arterial nephritis acute pregnancy , narrow-angle glaucoma or that are under treatment with medications that increase the toxic action of oxygen, among many other contraindications.