What Is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy? (HBOT)

Richard A. Neubauer, M.D.
Medical Director of Ocean Hyperbaric Center

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (abbreviated HBOT) is a medical treatment that uses pure oxygen to speed and enhance the body's natural ability to heal.  High dose oxygen therapy is an American Medical Association, FDA and Medicare approved modality.  While sometimes used as a primary emergency treatment, it is more often used as a cost effective adjunct or enhancement therapy.

Patients who may benefit from HBOT suffer from various diseases or injuries associated with hypoxia or a lack of oxygen on a cellular level.  It is at this cellular tissue level where all life takes place.

During therapy, the patient breathes pure 100% oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure.  (The air we normally breathe contains only 19-21% of this essential element.)  The concentration of oxygen normally dissolved in the bloodstream is thus raised many times above normal (up to 2000%).  In addition to the blood, all body fluids including the lymph and cerebro-spinal fluids are infused with the healing benefits of this molecular oxygen.  It can reach bone and tissue which are inaccessible to red blood cells, enhance white blood cell function, and promote the formation of new capillary and peripheral blood vessels.  This results in increased infection control and faster healing of a wide range of conditions.

When administered by highly trained professionals, HBOT is extremely safe and effective.  It is used, usually as part of an overall medical treatment plan, for a variety of conditions.  While increasing in popularity in the United States, it is still far more common in Europe and the Orient.  In fact, in some areas of Italy, a physician may have his or her license revoked for neglecting to utilize this therapy.

Ocean Hyperbaric Center has been a leader in successfully helping patients suffering from delayed wound healing. stroke, coma, spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, burns and various other conditions.  While HBO is not a "cure-all", the indications for its use are varied and continue to grow along with new knowledge in the field.

STROKE, COMA & CLOSED HEAD INJURIES

Regardless of whether they are traumatic (accidental) or vascular (stroke), all brain injuries share a resulting destruction of brain cells and the formation of "idling" neurons.  Diagnosis and treatment of central nervous system problems necessitates the ability to distinguish between living and dead tissue.  Dr. Neubauer has authored several studies which indicate that SPECT imaging with interventional hyperbaric oxygen therapy is useful in locating recoverable brain tissue in injuries caused by oxygen deprivation (anoxia).  The data support the hypothesis that traumatic, vascular and anoxic brain injuries all have common pathology which includes the possibility of recoverable brain tissue.

HBOT can be used as both a diagnostic tool to assess the extent of brain damage and as an adjunt to physical rehabilitation.  It has greatly improved the functioning of many patients by reactivating the surrounding idling neurons in their brains.  Conditions which may benefit from treatment include stroke, closed head injuries, smoke inhalation, carbon monoxide poisoning, near electrocution, near hanging, and near drowning incidents.

HBOT administered as soon as possible after an accident can drastically reduce the amount of injury.  However, patients suffering from brain damage have benefited from HBOT even years after their incidents occurred.

STROKE - Stroke is caused by a sudden loss of blood and oxygen to a specific area of the brain, which kills off a central core of brain cells.  With the death of these cells and the swelling this causes, blood and oxygen are further isolated from the surrounding cells, which also then swell in a repeating cycle.  These surrounding cells rather than the central core itself can cause much of the stroke patient's disability.  If these marginal (viable, but not functioning), cells can be revived with sufficient oxygen, substantial and sometimes dramatic recovery may result.  In one such case, the condition of a woman who had suffered a stroke 14 years prior to HBO therapy was greatly improved.

Benefits of HBOT that can help in stroke recovery include relief of hypoxia (lack of sufficient oxygen), cerebral edema and spasticity, extravascular diffusion of oxygen, and improvement of microcirculation.

In one study, more than 1000 patients who sustained cerebrovascular disease and were treated with HBOT showed improvement in quality of life ranging from 40 to 100%.

COMA - A technique developed by Dr. Neubauer and Dr. Sheldon Gottlieb, professor of  physiology at the University of Southern Alabama, has had impressive initial results.  It offers what may be the only hope for patients in long term care whose disease or injury has left them in a persistent vegetative state or coma.  Their research has uncovered evidence that neurons may dwell in an idling state for years.  With restored oxygen levels, the idle, lethargic brain cells can become normal once again and regain electrical activity.  Dr. Neubauer has reported a 50% success rate in the treatment of long term coma.

CLOSED HEAD INJURY -Cerebral edema (swelling) and the rise of intracranial pressure (ICP) are the major problems associated with severe head injuries.  Studies have shown that HBO treatment initiated soon after acute closed head injury can reduce mortality by more than 40%, and substantially increase the odds of complete recovery.

FACT:  While accounting for only 3% of the body weight, the brain consumes 20-25% of the body's total glucose and oxygen, yet has little capacity to store them.  During HBOT, the amount of oxygen that reaches the brain is six times that achieved through normal respiration.

The Ocean Hyperbaric Center is located in the Ocean Medical Center 4001 Ocean Drive, Lauderdale-by-the Sea, Florida 33308. (954) 771-4000.

CRA Note: This document has been reprinted with Dr. Neubauer's permission. Please visit the Ocean Hyperbaric Center for additional HBOT information.