Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Use Expanding
By Chauncey Crandall, M.D.
The use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy dates back to the 1600s, but it only really caught on in the early 1900s, when Dr. Orval Cunningham, a professor of anesthesia, erected what was known as the “Steel Ball Hospital.” That structure was six stories high and could reach three atmospheres of pressure.
The “hospital” was closed in 1930 because of the lack of scientific evidence that the treatment worked, but the military continued researching it and quickly discovered benefits, mainly for deep sea divers suffering from decompression sickness (also called “the bends”).
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The FDA now approves the use of hyperbaric chambers for the treatment of air or gas embolisms (“bubbles” in the bloodstream that obstruct circulation), carbon monoxide poisoning, and thermal burns caused by heat or fire.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy takes advantage of the body’s vital need for oxygen. All the body’s organs, including the heart, require steady supplies of oxygen. But the air we normally breathe contains just 21% oxygen.
With hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a person is put into a cylindrical chamber into which 100% oxygen is pumped. During the procedure, the body’s cells get two to three times the amount of oxygen they would ordinarily.
There is some evidence to support the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy as acute treatment for heart attack. However, the studies are few and more research is needed before the procedure becomes an accepted in-hospital treatment.
To date, the FDA has approved 13 uses for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Alternative medicine practitioners have embraced it, and it is now touted for some 40 ailments, ranging from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to spinal cord injury, cancer, and coronary artery disease.
While hyperbaric oxygen treatment is generally safe, there are some side effects associated with its use, including myopia (nearsightedness) that can last for weeks or months, sinus damage, rupture of the middle ear, and lung damage. The treatment can also aggravate severe congestive heart failure, and patients who have pacemakers should not use it.