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Understanding Your Diagnosis
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Late Effects of Radiation
Non-Healing Wounds
Skin Grafts and Flaps
Decompression Sickness
Gas Gangrene
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Intracranial Abscess
Air Embolism
Crush Injury
LATE EFFECTS OF RADIATION THERAPY
Radiation therapy is a vital part of cancer treatment and
radiation oncologists try to maximize safety with each treatment. Still, radiation doses needed to destroy tumors can damage healthy tissues and body structures in the path of radiation.
Most people have early side effects
of radiation that resolve spontaneously. The severity of these effects vary by individual. Late effects of radiation therapy have to do with a permanent change in the affected tissue. The tissue with late radiation damage has
decreased oxygen, decreased blood supply and its cells are generally smaller and more fragile. This means that the tissue can't heal normally.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy works to restore blood flow and oxygenation to the
tissue that has been devitalized by radiation. A good example of this is radiation of the head and neck. Often, when the head is irradiated the lower jaw is in the path of radiation. The mandible, or jawbone, absorbs a high dose of
radiation because it is so thick. Eventually the radiation causes a loss of small blood vessels and low oxygen in previously healthy tissue. If a radiated jaw were wounded, i.e. by removing a tooth at the dentist' s office, this
might set off a chain of events.
First, because the oxygen level in the jaw is low, the tooth extraction site cannot heal normally and the white cells are noy effective in fighting off infection. The wounded bone tissue
often dies. This requires surgical removal. If a person who had radiation of the jaw came for hyperbaric treatment before and after a tooth extraction, a healthy amount of blood vessels and oxygenation
would enable the jaw to heal properly.
Late radiation effects can occur in any area of the body and most areas can be healed with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Radiation tissue disease is a chronic condition that can be easily
be treated in an outpatient hyperbaric center such as Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Centers in Randolph, Massachusetts. NONHEALING WOUNDS
Some wounds fail to respond to usual medical and surgical management. These wounds usually develop in compromised persons who have many factors contributing to poor tissue repair.
These include diabetic wounds of the legs and feet, nonhealing amputation sites, and many other problem wounds.
Diabetic leg and foot wounds are a serious complication of diabetes and an excellent example of the type of
wound that would respond to hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Half of amputations performed each year are related to diabetic wounds.
Hyperbaric oxygen works to heal problem wounds in the following ways. First, the elevated level
of oxygen in the tissues around the wound signal body to affect the wound repair process leading to healing. This therapy also signals the growth of new blood vessels to vascularize the wound. The high oxygen also helps white
blood cells in the area to fight infection (as infected tissues have trouble healing). Chronic nonhealing wounds are easily treated in an outpatient hyperbaric center such as Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Centers in Randolph,
Massachusetts. Read more from
the American Diabetes Association. SKIN GRAFTS AND FLAPS
Surgically repairing complicated wounds is done by transferring tissues to the wound from a different part of the body. A skin graft is the transfer of a portion of skin to a
wound. The transferred skin relies on the blood supply at the wound site for survival, as it does not have its own. A flap is the transfer of more than one component of tissue such as muscle, subcutaneous tissue or bone.
Flaps are transferred with their own blood supply or with detached vessels that are brought to the site of the wound.
Skin grafts thrive when oxygen and nutrients are provided to them from the underlying wound bed. When the
wound does not have enough blood supply, the skin graft will partially or completely fail. Examples of wounds which may not support a skin graft include diabetic, previously irradiation to wound area, and other wounds which have
low amounts of oxygen i.e. wounds in patients who smoke. Hyperbaric oxygen can prepare the wound bed for a successful skin graft by oxygenating the tissues and causing the growth of new blood vessels to support them.
Flaps
also need oxygen and nutrients to survive. The superficial portion of the graft usually is furthest from the point of blood supply. Hyperbaric oxygen can help a failing flap survive and minimize tissue loss. Partial or complete
loss of a graft or flap is very difficult for patients. Preparation for skin grafts is a common diagnosis treated with hyperbaric oxygen and can easily be treated at Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Centers in Randolph, Massachusetts.
DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS & DECOMPRESSION ILLNESS
When SCUBA diving, additional oxygen and
nitrogen dissolve in the body tissues. Excess nitrogen is washed out of tissues during decompression. During or after ascent this excess nitrogen gas can bubble into the blood much like carbon bubbles out of a soda solution when
the cap is removed. Theses bubbles cause symptoms which are known as decompression sickness. Symptoms of decompression illness include joint pain, rash, fatigue, weakness of the extremities, dizziness, changes in hearing, paralysis
and loss of consciousness.
Decompression illness is a medical emergency best treated within a hospital setting. Hyperbaric oxygen works by providing oxygenation, promoting clearing of nitrogen and decreasing the volume of
nitrogen through direct pressure. GAS GANGRENE (Clostridial Myositis and Myonecrosis)
Gas gangrene is an acute and rapidly progressive infection of the soft tissues. The infection is caused by one of the bacteria in the "clostridia" family. Clostridia is a bacteria normally found in the gastrointestinal
tract and the infection can sometimes originate from there. The source can also be from outside the body, such as a wound caused by traumatic injury.
Gas gangrene infection is serious and typically spreads quickly. The
bacteria reproduce rapidly and produce toxic substances. These toxic substances destroy the surrounding tissues. An advancing gas gangrene infection can destroy healthy tissue in its path and spread over a matter of hours.
Hyperbaric oxygen works to expose the clostridia bacteria, which normally thrive in a low oxygen environment, to very high amounts of oxygen This hampers the bacteria's ability to reproduce, spread and make more toxins. Repeated
hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments help to slow the progress of the infection, while surgery to remove affected tissue and antibiotics control it. Using hyperbaric oxygen therapy, along with surgery and antibiotics provides an
advantage of saving more healthy tissue and perhaps resulting in less limb loss. Gas gangrene is a life and limb threatening infection which is treated within a hospital setting. CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas. Poisoning occurs by inhalation , such as during a fire or a suicide
attempt. Carbon monoxide interferes with the red blood cell's ability to carry oxygen to the tissues and is also poisonous to cells within the body. For example, it can permanently destroy nerve cells in the brain. Carbon
monoxide causes many chemical changes which lead to brain and other organ damage.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat carbon monoxide poisoning because it works to oxygenate areas of tissue which are not receiving
enough oxygen from the red blood cells. It also helps stop the chemical changes that lead to organ damage. Hyperbaric oxygen prevents some of the blood vessel injury caused by carbon monoxide as well. The goal of using hyperbaric
therapy for carbon monoxide poisoning is to reduce the neurological and other effects from carbon monoxide and provide oxygen support to the individual to prevent further damage from lack of oxygen. Carbon monoxide poisoning is a
medical emergency and is best treated in an in hospital facility. INTRACRANIAL ABSCESS
Abscesses in the brain can occur as a complication of sinus infection or bone infections of the skull. Occasionally brain abscesses can be seeded from another, more distant part of the body. Usually if there is a brain abscess it
occurs with multiple other brain abscesses.
The treatment for many abscesses is to drain them in surgery. Unfortunately, normal tissue in the brain can be permanently damaged using this method. Antibiotics may not penetrate
brain abscesses. Also, white blood cells require a certain amount of oxygen to kill bacteria.
Most intracranial abscesses are caused by anaerobic bacteria . These are bacteria that function in a low oxygen environment.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy raises the oxygen level in the abscessed area exposing these bacteria to high levels of oxygen which may slow their growth or even kill them. At the same time high levels of oxygen help the white cells to
destroy the bacteria more efficiently. Hyperbaric oxygen can help a person with a brain abscess to recover and have less likelihood of permanent brain damage. Depending on a person's overall state of health, a brain abscess can be
treated in an outpatient or in hospital hyperbaric chamber.
AIR EMBOLISM
Air embolisms
are caused when gas bubbles enter blood vessels. This results in poor blood flow and decreased oxygen delivery to the areas where the blood vessels have been affected. Air embolisms can be fatal or result in serious
disabilities. Following an air embolism a person might experience weakness or paralysis in the limbs, loss of vision, heart, lung or brain damage and many other permanent health conditions. Aggressive treatment of air embolism is
needed to ensure the best chance of recovery from this disease.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been used to reduce the size of bubbles circulating in blood vessels. The increased pressure in the hyperbaric chamber makes the
bubbles smaller and helps push them back into physical solution, while the high oxygen pressure washes out the gas from the bubble. Once the bubbles are smaller or gone, blood flow resumes. This allows poorly oxygenated tissues to
receive high levels of oxygen. Also, when vessels are obstructed by gas bubbles they leak fluid causing swelling in the surrounding tissues. When blood flow is restored, the swelling subsides, improving blood supply and oxygen
delivery even more. Lastly, high amounts of oxygen provided in the hyperbaric chamber support the areas injured by air embolisms while blood flow reduction and tissue swelling are being repaired. Air embolisms are medical
emergencies and are treated within a hospital setting.
CRUSH INJURY
Crush injuries occur
with a severe traumatic injury such as a motor vehicle accident, fall or gunshot wound. A crush injury may also happen as a result of dropping a heavy object on a body part, or having a hand or foot caught underneath or between
something.
Hyperbaric oxygen can be used along with orthopedic surgery and antibiotics as a way to decrease severe complications from a crush injury. Hyperbaric oxygen increases oxygen delivery to the injured tissue, reduces
swelling and aids wound healing with less infection. Depending on the extent of crush injury, and the overall health of the individual, it can be treated in a hospital or an outpatient facility. |
