hyperbaric medicine

Hyperbaric medicine is the branch of medicine in which clinical therapies are delivered in pressurized vessels containing prescribed barometric pressures of gases such as air or oxygen. The immediate effects include reducing the size of gas emboli and raising the partial pressures of the gases present. Initial uses were in decompression sickness, and it is also effective in certain cases of gas gangrene and carbon monoxide poisoning. There are risks associated with hyperbaric therapy, including barotrauma, and, if pure oxygen is used, a fire hazard.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is the medical use of greater than 99% oxygen at an ambient pressure higher than atmospheric pressure, and therapeutic recompression. The equipment required consists of a pressure vessel for human occupancy (hyperbaric chamber), which may be of rigid or flexible construction, and a means of a controlled atmosphere supply. Treatment gas may be the ambient chamber gas, or delivered via a built-in breathing system. Operation is performed to a predetermined schedule by personnel who may adjust the schedule as required.