HYPERBARIC OXYGEN
TREATMENT CENTERS
1395 North Main St.
Randolph, MA 02368
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(800) 973-3009
(781) 961-7887
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The Patriot Ledger
HEALING BREATHS: "Its not only a fuel but it's a signal. It tells tissue where and when to heal."

Reprint from M.D. News | Reprint from The Patriot Ledger

 Frances Christello had always been a walker, but she went five without putting on a pair of shoes. Christello 58, had developed skin ulcers on both her legs and ankles that would not heal, despite numerous skin grafts. A visiting nurse came each day to change the dressings on the wounds, and she was in and out of the hospital frequently.

"I lived in slippers," said Christello, a Quincy resident. "I couldn't get shoes on at all." What brought about the change was hyperbaric oxygen therapy - breathing pure oxygen inside a 10-by 6 1/2-foot tube of carbon steel three-eighths of an inch thick where the air pressure is two to three times normal.

Long used for treating carbon monoxide poisoning and decompression sickness, known to divers as "the bends," the therapy is effective in a wider range of illnesses, studies have shown- everything from strokes to sports injuries.

"The power of this modality is starting to be discovered, so there are a lot of new applications and the number of people who can benefit is increasing," Doherty said.

Breathing oxygen under pressure increases the amount that reaches
the injured area, stimulating blood flow and the capacity of white
blood cells to kill bacterial . Doherty said. It also helps the body
create new tissue.

 "It's not only a fuel but it's a signal. It tells the tissue where and when to heal," Doherty said.

Owner Richard Doherty is such a strong believer in hyperbaric oxygen therapy that he invested more than $1 million from the sale of his home health care business to open the center. Doherty said he would never get bank financing for the business, which opened in April, 2001.

Along with Dr. Doherty, his former wife, Doherty has to sell the local medical community and health insurers on the benefits of the treatment. The only other hyperbaric chamber in the area was at
the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, used mainly to treat its own patients who suffer complications from radiation therapy, he said.

Recent advances have brought down the cost of the hyperbaric
chambers, Doherty said. Dr. Doherty said government and private health insurers are gradually expanding the illnesses for which they will pay for hyperbaric treatment, especially where it can be shown
to be more cost-effective than the standard treatment.

The former medical director of Olympus Specialty Hospital in
Braintree, which specializes in respiratory care, Dr. Doherty aid she
works with the patient's physician to draw up a treatment plan, including the number of treatment sessions.

Inside the multiplace chamber, which can fit six adults, patients sit on six-foot-long benches where they can sleep, read or watch a video. Parents can accompany children as they undergo the treatment.

See-through hoods are placed over the heads of patients to deliver the oxygen. They cut the risk of an accidental fire or explosion in the oxygen-rich environment. Some patients experience slight ear discomfort, similar to altitude change during air travel or driving through the mountains, Dr. Doherty said.

Christello, the patient with leg ulcers, said the sight of the chamber "kind of scares you at first, when you see the door. But it's really very comfortable. You know they're watching, and they talk to you to keep you comfortable."

Another patient, Joseph Hughes of Braintree, first underwent hyperbaric oxygen therapy because of complications from the radiation treatment he had received for cancer.

Now he is getting treated for a leg wound that hasn't healed after a vein was removed for coronary bypass surgery. Hughes, 77, said his doctor didn't want him taking the stairs at the MGH/Charles subway station for treatments at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, and found the Randolph center when he looked for an alternative.

Hughes said it takes him just a few minutes to drive to the Randolph Center. Since he started the treatment, the wound has shrunk to about a third of its original size. "You can almost see it shrink, and its feel 100 percent better too," Hughes said.

While the center doesn't generally handle emergency cases, Dr. Doherty said it was made available to treat smoke inhalation cases from the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. But most of the lung problems were caused by breathing concrete dust from the collapse of the buildings, not smoke, she said.

During the first six months in operation, Richard Doherty said, business has been better than expected. he hopes to expand the Randolph center and open other locations.

The center is in the Gateway Plaza in Randolph, 1395 N. Main St, near the junction of Routes 128 and 28. Its phone number is 1-781-961-7887. Website is www.hyperbaricoxygenchamber.com