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What Is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is now available at HSC Medical Center’s new Wound and Hyperbaric Medicine Center that opened on December 5, 2005.  The Center, as well as the hyperbaric oxygen therapy, is the first such service to be offered in the Hot Spring County area.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is just one option to consider when treating non-healing wounds.  This therapy is especially helpful for patients with diabetic wounds, pressure ulcers, gas gangrene, osteomyelitis, osteoradionecrosis, and crush injuries.  Victims of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning may also benefit from this treatment.

During hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a patient breathes 100% oxygen in a chamber pressurized to greater than sea level.  This allows significantly more amounts of oxygen to be dissolved in the bloodstream to improve and accelerate the healing process.  While in the chamber, a patient can rest, watch TV or sleep.  There is no discomfort during the treatment.

The hyperbaric chamber has been used for over 50 years to treat divers with decompression sickness (“the bends”).  However, researchers identified other clinical applications for HBOT when it was discovered that some healing actions could be greatly accelerated by using a combination of pressure and pure oxygen.

At HSC Medical Center, two hyperbaric oxygen therapy chambers are available under the medical direction of Sonia Williams, MD.

For more information about hyperbaric oxygen therapy or wound care, please call Melony Schratz at 501-332-7000.

Ann Gasper is the Marketing Coordinator for HSC Medical Center.