What is hyperbaric oxygen therapy?
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to increase oxygen uptake into the blood above normal levels. In this way, the aim is to achieve a better oxygen supply even to tissues with a poor blood supply. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be performed in single- or multi-person pressure chambers.
In hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the external pressure is increased to 1.5 to 3 times the normal pressure with the help of a pressure chamber. This physically dissolves more oxygen in the liquid components of the blood. The amount is proportional to the ambient pressure and the amount of oxygen in the breathing gas.
The increased oxygen content in the blood is intended to accelerate the metabolism in tissues with poor blood supply. This is intended to stimulate healing processes, for example.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used for such conditions as:
- diabetic foot syndrome
- carbon monoxide poisoning
- diver’s disease (Caisson’s disease)
- Bone marrow inflammation (osteomyelitis)
- Death of bone tissue (osteonecrosis)
- Burns
- Hearing loss (with and without tinnitus), tinnitus
- late effects of radiation therapy (such as non-healing wounds or bone defects)
Benefit partly controversial
IQWIG was unable to prove a benefit of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in burns and in the death of bone tissue at the femoral head (femoral head necrosis) (status 2007).
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is not recommended for the treatment of chronic tinnitus in the current guideline.
What do you do during hyperbaric oxygen therapy?
pressure chamber, from which you can make contact with the doctor or nursing staff at any time (for example, by speaking loudly). The pressure in the chamber is now slowly increased so that the pressure equalization of the ears can take place without complications and as comfortably as possible. You yourself can facilitate this process by chewing gum or pressing air into the pharynx while holding your nose closed (Valsalva maneuver).
Duration and number of treatments
The duration of a session in the pressure chamber ranges from 45 minutes to more than six hours, depending on the indication (field of application). Treatments lasting several hours are necessary, for example, in the acute therapy of diving sickness.
How many sessions are performed in individual cases also varies. Depending on the indication and the course of the disease, some patients only have to sit in the pressure chamber once, while others have to do so several times (up to 30 times and more).
The attending physician will inform you in advance about possible side effects and risks of HBO therapy. These include, for example:
- Barotrauma: These are injuries caused by sudden changes in pressure in gas-filled body cavities (e.g., in the ear) when pressure is not equalized.
- Rupture of the eardrum (eardrum perforation or rupture).
- irritation of the airways
- temporary visual disturbances
What should I be aware of during hyperbaric oxygen therapy?
If the following symptoms occur during a hyperbaric oxygen therapy session in the pressure chamber, you should remove the breathing mask and report to the doctor/nurse immediately (speak loudly or press the call button):
- Tingling in fingertips, tip of nose, or earlobes
- Facial twitching
- sudden double vision
- Burning in the upper respiratory tract or under the breastbone
- malaise
- restlessness
The costs for hyperbaric oxygen therapy are usually only covered by social insurance in certain cases. Find out about this in advance from your health insurance fund/insurance company.
