By Sanja Savic Kallesoe, PhD and Klaus Kallesoe, PhD

Is oxygen therapy something that could help my health problems or generally improve my condition?” We are continuously bombarded with advertising on all sorts of oxygen therapies: oxygen spa, ozone therapy, oxygenated water to cleanse and energize and even oxygen bags to stick your wounded limb in.

What is the real deal? If you enthusiastically gathered this information to ask your doctor for a medical opinion, odds are that she or he wouldn’t give it any more than a shrug.

There is however one type of oxygen therapy that has gained considerable acceptance in the medical community and has been used successfully where oxygen deprivation causes serious tissue damage. The most effective way of forcing extra oxygen into the body is by breathing pure oxygen inside a pressurized chamber. This is called hyperbaric oxygen therapy or HBOT and the results are dramatic.

One example would be a stubborn non-healing wound traditionally leading to gangrene and amputation. Clinical studies show that with HBOT, 70 to 90 percent of diabetic wounds can heal. More importantly, in people suffering from complex systemic problems such as diabetes or peripheral vascular diseases, HBOT acts on the whole body and preventively treats the other limbs and organs. (1)

Another example would be a case of peripheral neuropathy, where nerve endings deprived of oxygen gradually die off. This happens to many people with circulation problems with symptoms of pain, cramping, tingling or “pins and needles” and eventually numbness. Numbness is usually an early sign prior to more serious conditions arising.

Adding oxygen to the body via HBOT will not only supply oxygen-starved tissue, it is also likely to reestablish the right environment for the nerves, capillaries and bones to regenerate, thus reversing the condition.

HBOT has been used with various degrees of acceptance for over 60 years, worldwide. In fact, the first hyperbaric chamber in North America was installed in Oshawa, Ontario. Initially, HBOT was only applied as a primary treatment of diving-related decompression sickness, inhalation of toxins or gas embolism. Later, medical pressurized oxygen was used adjunctively to surgery and antibiotic therapy. Most recently, chronic ulcer and pain centres have successfully utilized HBOT to initiate the healing and prepare the body for further treatments such as medication, surgery, physiotherapy etc. In the US alone there are more than 600 hyperbaric facilities, servicing a span of needs from hospital surgical wards and rehab centres, sport teams and neurological patients to cosmetic plastic surgery.

Along with the development of HBOT came the need to assess the level of tissue oxygen deprivation and effectiveness of therapy. Reduced pain, better mobility and closed wounds with less scarring were not sufficient as objective markers in validating the therapy. A more quantifiable method was found in a transcutaneous or through the skin measurement of tissue oxygenation. Such assessment is non-invasive and can serve both as an early warning indicator of poor delivery of oxygen and as a gauge for treatment progress. Today, advanced wound clinics and HBOT centres are using this tool to assess microcirculation and suggest if HBOT would be a choice of a therapy on its own or in addition to other treatments. It is also a valuable tool to follow the success of therapy and determine its end point.

The combination of regular assessment and timely intervention with HBOT is very good news for people with circulation or nerve problems. Diabetes, post-surgery, Lyme and Raynaud’s diseases, spinal cord injury, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, and Bell’s palsy are just some of the conditions treated. It gives patients options to reduce the risk of developing further complications.

HBOT is an effective, natural and non-invasive method of stimulating the body’s own mechanisms of regenerating blood vessels, bones and nerve endings. And if you are one of those lucky ones, who is generally healthy and just needs a “boost” to get that sprain or fracture after mountain biking going, then don’t think twice about taking advantage of HBOT.

(1) The results of multiple other retrospective studies involving approximately 500 patients have been consistent and indicate a 70 - 90 percent success rate in patients who had been refractory to other modes of therapy, with success defined as the avoidance of amputation and, in many cases, complete wound healing.

Ref: JA Stone and P Cianci, The Adjunctive Role of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in the Treatment of Lower Extremity Wounds in Patients With Diabetes, Diabetes Spectrum, Volume 10 Number 2, 1997, Pages 118-123

Wattel FE, Mathieu DM, Fossati P. Neviere RR, Coget JM: Hyperbaric Oxygen in the Treatment of Diabetic Foot Lesions: Search for Healing Predictive Factors. J Hyperbar Med 6:263-68,1991.

McDermott JE, Zell G: The Role of Hyperbaric Oxygen in the Management of Diabetic Ulcer. Presented at AOFAS annual meeting, Sun Valley, Idaho, Aug. 4,1989.

0riani G: Diabetic Foot and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: A 10-year Experience. J Hyperbar Med 7:213-21, 1992.

Zamboni WA, Stephenson T: Evaluation of Hyperbaric Oxygen for Diabetic Wounds: A Prospective Study. Undersea Hyperbar Med 22 (Suppl):11, 1995.

About the writers: Sanja Savic Kallesoe, PhD and Klaus Kallesoe, PhD are hyperbaric physiology and neurophysiology specialists who can be reached at info@baromedical.ca For more information about microcirculation assessment and medical hyperbaric oxygen therapy see Health Canada and Undersea Hyperbaric Medical Society.