What is hyperbaric oxygen therapy (hbot)?

A therapy: Hbot is breathing 100% oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure. This is performed in a chamber specifically built for this purpose. It's basic affect is to increase the oxygen content of the body, which produces many benefits. Clinically, we use it for a wide variety of conditions, ranging from infections to any type of tissue damage.

O2 under pressure: The oxygen that you breath while under pressure in an hbo chamber is acting like a drug. There are a myriad of effects of this. The most important effect is to get oxygen to tissues that are failing because of a lack of oxygen. The pressure helps force o2 into the tissues where circulation may be poor. Also increased circulation of stem cells has been reported with hbo.

Pressurized 100% O2: Hbot is a form of treatment whereby patients are given 100% oxygen in higher-than-usual atmospheric pressures. Generally, it implies administering oxygen in a pressurized chamber or vessel fit for human occupation (pvho). The therapy is used for treatment of different ailments, including chronic wounds, radiation injuries, decompression sickness, and others.

Hyperbaric oxygen: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is delivered in a chamber. It can be single person chamber or a multiplace chamber. 100% oxygen is delivered within the chamber under pressures equal to 2 to 2.5 atmospheres of pressure depending on the medical problem that you physician is treating. This is equal to 33 feet of seawater in pressure. The treatments last two to 2.5 hours; they are done daily.

Number of uses: HBO has a number of uses. Simply put it is use f oxygen (O2). O2 depending on illness treated, it can be used to create a gradient, ie in diseases where we are trying to create blood vessels, aid toxin removal CO or cyanide poisoning, hyperoxgenation in anemia, lead to bacterial killing in anaerobic infections. I recommend judicious use, and the society's web page is a good resource uhms.org