Hyberbaric
Oxygen treatment
consists of sessions in a recompression chamber, such as are used for
divers who get decompression sickness ("the bends"). The chamber has
the pressure raised above atmospheric,
and 100% oxygen is breathed in. Exhalation gases are discharged from
the chamber by wearing a mask or hood.
It has been used for treatment of difficult to
heal wounds, bone infections, some types of anaemia, burns, frostbite
and Raynauds
Disease.
For radiotherapy injuries, soft tissue
injuries, lymphoedema,
for which HBO can reduce
swelling permanently, also
for other
internal radiation damage and
bone damage from radiation. Typically, 40 sessions of
about 90 minutes are given. This will be 5 days a week until the 40
sessions are completed. Patients are monitored closely throughout the
therapy. It does not have proven efficacy as yet in radiotherapy
injuries as more double -blind trials are needed.
One such was a multi-national centre double-blind crossover trial involving 150 patients published
Int J Rad Onc Bio, Vol 1, No 1, pp 134-143 2008.
More
general HBO information in the links below.
Background and
general information about HBO
Cancerbackup
Article and list of centres published by UK
department of health
***News*** A Hyperbaric Oxygen trial
is to be conducted by the Institute of Cancer Research and the
Royal Marsden Hospital at centres around the UK and will involve
75 patients. This item will be updated when the trial is complete and results become available,
which will be some considerable time. Having seen the protocol,
patients are followed up many months later.
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