Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy is a medical treatment that exposes a patient to controlled pressures of 100 percent oxygen for a prescribed amount of time, usually ranging from 60 to 90 minutes. This increases the amount of oxygen in the patient's blood being delivered to the organs and tissues in the body, and the increased oxygen works to promote the healing process of wounds.

Approved Indications

According to the Committee Report by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society Inc., certain conditions have been approved HBO therapy.

• Air or gas embolism
• Carbon monoxide poisoning
• Gas gangrene
• Crush injury
• Decompression sickness
• Enhancement of healing in selected problem wounds
• Exceptional blood loss
• Intracranial abscess
• Necrotizing soft tissue infections
• Osteomyelitis
• Delayed radiation injury
• Skin grafts and flaps
• Thermal burns