Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is high-oxygen-pressure therapy recognized by the American Medical Association as a successful complement to other courses of treatment for conditions and illnesses that have been highly resistant to other treatments.

Oxygen treatments can be beneficial for patients who suffer from:

  • Chronic non-healing, such as diabetic foot ulcers or wounds
  • Compromised skin grafts/flaps
  • Chronic refractory osteomyelitis (inflammatory disease in the bones)
  • Radiation cystitis and proctitis (bladder and rectal inflammation)
  • Osteoradioneocrosis (dying bone tissue)
  • Necrosis (death) of soft tissue and bone due to radiation treatments
  • Gas embolisms
  • Gas gangrene

How does HBOT work?

Breathing 100 percent oxygen in a pressurized chamber causes the oxygen to diffuse into the bloodstream, resulting in blood oxygen levels 20 times higher than normal. This heavy concentration of oxygen has numerous benefits:HBOT room 

  • Nourishes tissue with poor circulation
  • Improves the white blood cells ability to destroy bacteria
  • Stimulates the growth of new blood vessels
  • Boosts the body’s own natural healing process
  • Significantly diminishes the need for amputation
  • Improves the outcome for patients who have failed to respond to traditional therapies alone

Plus, HBOT is:

  • Non-invasive
  • Painless
  • Offered in an outpatient setting
  • Accepted by Medicare, Medicaid and many commercial insurers with a physician’s referral

Treatments take place in a comfortable, climate-controlled multi-seat chamber that is carefully monitored. After a physical evaluation, patients enter the chamber. As the chamber pressurizes most patients experience a sensation similar to an airplane taking off. During the treatment you can comfortably talk, read, nap or watch a movie. As the treatment concludes, the pressure decreases, similar to the feeling of a plane landing.

HBOT sessions typically last two hours, six days a week for six to eight weeks. Your physician will determine the number of therapies that will be most beneficial to you.