Hyperbaric Chamber: Treating a Variety of Illnesses with the power of Oxygen

           The hyperbaric chamber is one of the most powerful healing machines in modern medicine. The ironic thing is, it almost completely disappeared from use after its invention.  Orville Cunningham created the first hyperbaric chamber in the early 1900’s as a means to treat a patient with the chronic flu. The patient recovered with great efficacy from the chamber. Unfortunately, Cunningham dissembled it after it failed to produce the same results for future patients with other conditions. The United States Navy resurrected the machine in the 1940’s as a means to treat deep-sea divers with “the bends” or decompression sickness and it has slowly been gaining popularity to treat other conditions ever since.

            But what exactly is the hyperbaric chamber? How exactly does it work? The hyperbaric chamber comes in two forms: monoplace and multiplace. In the monoplace design, a patient lays in a six to seven foot long enclosed bed, whereas the multiplace design allows for a couple of people to breathe through masks in a small room. Both designs rely on two ingredients for success: pressure and pure oxygen.

             At the start of the treatment, the chamber is pressurized using 100% pure-oxygen. As the patient breathes normally, the pressurized oxygen is absorbed into the bloodstream via the lungs and carried throughout the body by the circulatory system.  Subsequently, the patient receives up to fifteen times the amount of oxygen when compared to breathing air at sea level. This can produce various positive effects, such as: increasing oxygen concentration in all body tissues, improving the healing time of stubborn wounds, stimulating the growth of new blood vessels in areas of reduced circulation, increasing the efficiency of white blood cells to kill bacteria, assisting in the treatment of chronic bone infections, preserving skin grafts, reducing swelling and reducing effects from toxic exposure from carbon monoxide.

            Each treatment lasts about 50 to 60 minutes and the number of recommended treatments will vary greatly from patient to patient based on his or her condition. Near the end of the treatment, the nurse will gradually decrease the pressure in the chamber, which can create a “popping” sensation in the patient’s ears as if he or she were descending from a higher altitude. After a couple of treatments, the popping sensation will not be as intense and most patients will be able to comfortably enjoy listening to music, read a book or rest during the treatment.

            Since the hyperbaric chamber’s resurrection in the 1940’s, it has become more accredited in the treatment of various conditions. The Department of Hyperbaric Medicine at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center lists the hyperbaric chamber as being able to treat: Non-healing diabetic leg and foot wounds, delayed radiation injury to soft tissues and bones, decompression sickness, gas gangrene, serious burn injuries, carbon monoxide poisoning and intracranial abscesses.