Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT )
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO T ) is the intermittent inhalation of 100% oxygen at pressures higher than 1 ATA to the patient who is fully pressurized in a closed pressure chamber .
(1 ATA = Atmosphere absolute = 760 mmHg). The patient receives oxygen from the environment, mask or endotracheal tube, depending on the type of pressure chamber.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a kind of medical, proven and scientific treatment method based on breathing 100% pure oxygen in a completely closed pressure chamber.
It was first used in the treatment of the decompression sickness (decompression sickness) encountered in divers, then it was applied in the treatment of tunnel workers and its wound healing effect was noticed as a result of careful observation.
After this period, it has been used in the treatment of different diseases all over the world and has been published in many international refereed journals.
Diseases in which this treatment is applied,
- Wounds on the feet of diabetic patients (Diabetic Foot Infections),
- Wounds that do not heal,
- Bone infections (Chronic Osteomyelitis),
- Bone death (Avascular Necrosis),
- Soft tissue trauma (Crush Injuries),
- Burns,
- Brain abscess,
- Risky skin and tissue patches (Risky Grafts and Flaps),
- Sudden hearing loss,
- Vision loss,
- Wounds due to vascular occlusion,
- Post-radiotherapy wounds (Radionecrosis, Osteoradionecrosis),
- Stove and tube gas poisoning (Carbon monoxide poisoning),
- Profiteering, air gas embolism, soft tissue infections (Necrotizing Fasciitis).
Apart from these, many diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Autism, Crohn’s disease, Scleroderma are in the process of being tested and investigated.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is applied by breathing oxygen at high pressure in a pressure chamber, depending on the cause of the disease and the patient’s condition.
This inhaled oxygen increases dissolved oxygen in the blood. It ensures that the tissue is nourished not only with blood but also with this dissolved oxygen.
Since dissolved oxygen is independent, it can be used for longer distances in the tissue. This fills even non-bleeding tissue with oxygen. It helps to heal the wound.
High oxygen also dissolves tissue edema. It allows the tissue to reach blood and oxygen more easily.
Apart from this, it increases the body’s ability to fight microbes, and the antibiotic used has a better effect, making it more effective on microbes. It is used to reduce or even eliminate air bubbles that occur in diseases such as profiteering with the applied pressure.
The body cleans the shrunken air more easily. Hyperbaric oxygen is also important in the separation of carbon monoxide from the blood cells to which it is attached and repair of the damages caused by this poison, as in some poisonous substances such as stove gas poisoning.
How Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) Works
The effect of HBOT is based on two principles.
- Direct Effect of Pressure.
- Effect of Dissolved Oxygen
With the direct effect of the pressure, the air bubbles in the body shrink. With this effect, we benefit from profiteering, air gas embolism diseases.
The effect of oxygen dissolved in the blood, the amount of oxygen in all body tissues and fluids increases approximately 15 times and the fight against microbes increases, the cells regenerate themselves faster, and wound healing is provided.
Along with these, the reduction in the existing edema, the elimination of harmful substances caused by microbes, the removal of harmful gases that prevent the cells from breathing, as in the case of poisoning such as stoves and gas, are provided.
- Antihypoxic Effect
- Antiedema Effect
- Antioxic Effect
- Antibacterial Effect
- Acceleration of Wound Healing
- Neovascularization