Hyperbaric Medicine Center

St. Vincent Charity Hospital opened Cleveland's first Hyperbaric Medicine Center in March 1993. Two hyperbaric (high-pressure) oxygen chambers are used to care for a variety of illnesses. Hyperbaric medicine is a preferred method of treatment for victims of carbon monoxide poisoning and late complications of radiation therapy.

Repeated painless hyperbaric treatments, lasting 90 minutes each, encourage the body to develop new capillaries that transfer blood and oxygen to damaged tissues. This can promote advanced wound healing and improved infection control. In addition, treatment within the chamber constricts blood vessels; reducing swelling in patients suffering from severe burns and crush injuries. Because the infusion of one gas into the body usually pushes out another, hyperbaric chambers can be useful in the treatment of severe smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning.

The hyperbaric oxygen chamber was developed by the U.S. Navy more than 70 years ago to treat divers suffering from decompression sickness or "the bends." The chamber is a cylinder made of glass and metal, large enough to accommodate an adult lying down. It is filled with 100% oxygen at pressures several times greater than sea level atmosphere. While in the pressurized chamber, a patient receives almost three times the amount of oxygen that can be provided through an oxygen facemask. All of the benefits provided by the hyperbaric oxygen therapy are the result of the extra oxygen being carried within the bloodstream and delivered to the body's tissues.

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment produces one or more of the following effects:

• Increased oxygen delivery to injured tissue
• Advanced wound healing
• Preservation of damaged tissues
• Elimination and / or reduction of the effects of toxic substances
• Reduction or elimination of tissue obstruction by gas bubbles
• Greater blood vessel formation
• Improved infection control.

With some conditions these effects may occur after only one or two treatments; or, depending upon the nature of the illness or injury and the patient's condition, it may be necessary to undergo as many as 40-50 treatments for maximum benefit. Treatments may be provided up to twice daily for inpatients. Outpatients receive treatment once a day for five days per week. Each patient's treatment is individualized and carefully discussed with him or her.

Medicare and most insurance providers recognize the value of therapy and reimburse for these conditions.

• Acute carbon monoxide exposure
• Decompression illness
• Clostridial myositis and myonecrosis
• Acute traumatic peripheral ischemia
• Crush injuries and reattachment of severed limbs
• Progressive necrotizing fasciitis
• Acute peripheral arterial insufficiency
• Preparation and preservation of compromised skin grafts
• Chronic refractory osteomyelitis
• Osteoradionecrosis
• Soft tissue radionecrosis
• Diabetic wounds that have failed course of standard therapy.

For more information, please contact us at (216) 363-3315 or you may contact us via e-mail at hyperbaric@csauh.com.