Hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Definition

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy uses a special chamber, sometimes called a pressure chamber, to allow a a person to breathe 100% oxygen. This means that the air inside the pressurized chamber is typically 2 1/2 times greater than normal atomospheric pressure. This leads to your blood carrying larger amounts of oxygen and bringing this oxygen to organs and tissues in the body. By doing so, wounds, particularly infected wounds, can heal more readily.

Some of the conditions for which hyperbaric therapy can be helpful include:

• gas gangrene
  
• decompression sickness (for example, a diving injury)
  
• air or gas embolism
  
• carbon monoxide poisoning
  
• wound healing (for example, a foot ulcer in someone with diabetes or very bad circulation)
  
• necrotizing soft tissue infections
  
• osteomyelitis (bone infection)
  
• radiation injuries (for example, damage to skin, other soft tissue, or bones from radiation therapy for cancer)
  
• skin grafts and flaps
  
• burns

Medical Encyclopedia
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0-9

What health info have you recently searched for online? Disease or condition Exercise or fitness Diet, nutrition or vitamins None of the above

Games and Interactive Media Are Powerful Tools for Health Promotion and Childhood Obesity Prevention
    - Full Story - - »»»

Primary care program helps obese teen girls manage weight, improve body image and behavior
    - Full Story - - »»»

Sugar more toxic than alcohol, scientists claim
    - Full Story - - »»»

Optimism about heart risks may be a good thing
    - Full Story - - »»»

Study shows fainting factor in cardiac arrests
    - Full Story - - »»»

Teen pregnancy, abortion rates at record low, study says
    - Full Story - - »»»

Think you can’t get pregnant? Try again, study says
    - Full Story - - »»»