Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a medical treatment that involves breathing 100% oxygen in a pressurized chamber. This therapy enhances the body’s natural healing process by delivering oxygen at high pressures, which increases the amount of oxygen in the blood and sets of physiological processes that improve the bodys natural healing processes, including wounds with inflamation and damaged tissues. We use Hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat wounds and other FDA approved treatments.
•SuperOxygenation: Provides up to 20 times the usual volume of oxygen to tissues, enhancing healing.
•Increased Solubility: Oxygen molecules are compressed, allowing them to easily enter cell membranes and reach body cells.
•Reduced Inflammation: Stimulates the body’s anti-inflammatory responses.
•Bactericidal: Creates an oxygen-rich environment that bacteria, fungi, and viruses cannot survive in.
•Blood Vessel Growth: Promotes angiogenesis, forming new blood vessels to improve blood flow to damaged areas.
•Antioxidant Stimulation: Increases production of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), an enzyme that inactivates cell-destroying superoxides.
•Enhanced Antibiotic Effectiveness: Improves the effectiveness of certain antibiotics.
•Bone Repair: Stimulates the production of osteoblasts and osteoclasts for faster bone regeneration.
•Increased Collagen and Fibroblast Production: Boosts growth and reproduction of collagen and fibroblasts, essential for tissue repair.
•Led by Dr. Yadwinder “Vinnie” Dhillon, a recognized specialist in wound care and hyperbaric medicine, our team is dedicated to providing top-notch care.
•Dr. Dhillon has extensive experience and is recognized as a Phoenix Top Doctor multiple times.
•We tailor our HBOT treatments to meet each patient’s unique needs, ensuring optimal outcomes.
•Our state-of-the-art facilities and advanced technology provide a comfortable and effective treatment environment.
•We prioritize your comfort and safety, with a focus on patient education and support throughout the treatment process.
•Our compassionate team is here to guide you every step of the way, from your initial consultation to your final treatment session.
In cases of critical hemoglobin level drop, HBOT can serve as a bridge therapy to relieve the symptoms of oxygen debt and allow proper oxygen delivery until underlying pathology is corrected and/or RBC transfusion becomes available. In emergency cases or if a patient refuses blood transfusion, life can be sustained using HBOT, even with very low concentrations of hemoglobin. Additionally, in subacute and chronically anemic patients, HBOT induces an increase in red blood cell mass and is considered a safer long-term option than transfusion of packed red blood cells.
Chronic Refractory Osteomyelitis is a bone infection, characterized by acute and chronic forms of hypoxia. HBOT greatly helps its treatment by boosting osteoclast and osteoblast activity, enhancing bactericidal activity of white blood cells, decreasing edema, increasing neovascularization and enabling regeneration of bone tissue.
HBOT reduces the size of gas bubbles in the blood and restores blood flow to end-organ tissues. This is done by ‘concurrent diffusion principle’ – increasing the diffusion gradient for inert gas from the bubble by replacing the nitrogen with oxygen. HBOT, thus, shrinks the bubbles, oxygenates the ischemic end-organ tissue and decreases cerebral edema and inflammation.
HBOT is recommended within 8-24 hours of the onset of this condition for best outcomes. HBOT increases the oxygen levels in hypoxic/ischemic inner retinal layers to maintain tissue viability, prevent retinal edema and minimize ischemia-reperfusion injury.
In cases of acute carbon monoxide poisoning, HBOT accelerates the dissociation of CO from the hemoglobin molecule at a much greater rate than that achievable by breathing pure oxygen at ambient atmospheric pressure and also reduces brain inflammation and injury by enhancing tissue oxygenation, decreasing microvascular injury, and improving mitochondrial oxidative processes.
For these cases, HBOT serves as a bridge and adjunctive therapy by oxygenating tissues and thus preventing cellular death, reducing ischemia-reperfusion injury, preventing white blood cells degranulation, reducing edema and enhancing the blood supply.
HBOT can help treat such Hearing loss condition by increasing the intra-cochlear oxygen tensions and reducing inflammation and edema.
HBOT is the only treatment of decompression sickness. It shrinks the bubbles, reduces the edema around the bubble and restores blood flow to the end-organ tissues. HBOT decreases the nitrogen load in the bubbles and replaces it with oxygen, by the concurrent diffusion principle, thus oxygenating ischemic tissues.
For peripheral artery diseases, HBOT is used as a bridge therapy until definitive vascular surgical intervention and even in the postoperative period. HBOT carries oxygen necessary for tissue regeneration and wound healing by boosting the activity of white blood cells and supporting the generation of new blood vessels. Additionally, HBOT reduces the carbon dioxide retention and claudication, therefore, increasing the person’s mobility.
HBOT is greatly beneficial to any wound healing but is crucial to non-healing wounds affected by lack of oxygen supply such as diabetic foot ulcer. The treatment restores the oxygen-dependent functioning of healing by oxygenating the tissues, reducing edema, regulating intracellular metabolism and boosting the activity of white blood cells and antibiotic treatment.
Radiation necrosis is long-term complication of radiotherapy. HBOT is a recommended treatment for this condition as it removes hypoxia in the affected tissues, boosting cell regeneration and reducing tissue fibrosis and breakdown.
HBOT is a great boost for the bactericidal activity of white blood cells and also enhances the action of antibiotic treatment. Further, HBOT limits the spread of infection by increasing local tissue oxygen levels and reducing the degree of hypoxic leukocyte dysfunction. HBOT also accelerates the demarcation of potentially viable tissue from non-viable tissue.
HBOT helps compromised skin graft conditions by bringing more oxygen to the area, helping the building of new blood vessels (neovascularization), reducing tissue edema and limiting the effects of ischemia/ ischemia-reperfusion injury.
Radiation therapy is a critical tool in cancer treatment, but it can also harm healthy tissues, leading to long-term complications known as radiation injuries. These injuries can manifest months or even years after treatment, affecting various organs and tissues. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been FDA-approved to treat these latent injuries by increasing oxygen levels in damaged tissues, promoting healing and reducing inflammation. At AZ Wound & Hyperbaric Medicine, we offer advanced HBOT solutions to alleviate the effects of radiation therapy and support tissue regeneration. Learn more about how HBOT can aid in the recovery from radiation injury.
SuperOxygenation of tissues: The delivery of 100% oxygen under pressure (2 to 3 ATA) within a hyperbaric chamber, provides up to 20 times the usual volume of oxygen, to all tissues within the body.
Oxygen is more soluble: During HBOT, oxygen molecules are compressed and obey Boyle’s Universal Gas Law. The principal of Boyles Law is gas is more soluble and easily enters cell membranes and travels across the body’s fluid systems. This means that the body is not dependent on red blood cells to transporting oxygen. Instead, all the fluid systems together allow 20% more oxygen to reach body cells.
Reduced Inflammation: Decreasing inflammation, especially edema, by stimulating the body’s own anti-inflammatory responses, is one of the most important functions of HBOT.
Bactericidal: Bacteria, fungi and viruses are organisms that are incapable of surviving in oxygen rich environment such as those in hyperbaric chambers. Additionally, HBOT provides crucial oxygen supply to white blood cells, boosting its ability to fight infections.
Increased blood vessel growth: Angiogenesis refers to the formation of new blood vessels. HBOT stimulates the growth of new capillaries, building a collateral circulatory system that is particularly beneficial in reaching tissues and organs that have restricted blood flow (ischemic areas) as well as areas of the body that are lacking oxygen (hypoxic areas).
Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) Stimulation: HBOT displays antioxidant abilities by stimulating the production of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD). SOD is an important enzyme that inactivates superoxides that are responsible for the destruction of cells.
Improved effectiveness of Antibiotics: HBOT is proven to have great synergy with certain antibiotics. Synergy, in the medical field, is when two or more agents working together produces a result not obtainable by any of the agents independently. HBOT biomechanically increases the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy; for example, the capabilities of sulfanomides are increased up to ten-fold when HBOT is added.
Improves bone repair and regeneration: HBOT stimulates and increases the production of specialized cells (osteoblasts and osteoclasts) that are responsible for bone repair and formation, thus speeding up bone regeneration time.
Increases Collagen and Fibroblast: HBOT increases the oxygen availability and thus boosts the growth and reproduction of fibroblasts and collagen, which are essential to the healing of any wound. They are the building block of our tissues, HBOT helps lay down the foundation for your body to build on.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy treatments are painless and non-invasive.
When you arrive for your treatment, you will change clothes into 100% cotton scrubs in our changing room. You will not be allowed to take any foreign materials into the HBOT chamber with you.
Once ready you will lie on a rolling gurney where the nurse or respiratory technician will check your ears, blood pressure and your blood sugar (if you are diabetic). A grounding probe is then attached to your wrist to prevent any static electricity while in the chamber. Once ready you are rolled into the chamber.
To start you will hear the oxygen circulating and you will be informed as the pressure gradually increases, you may experience “fullness” in your ears, similar to the feeling in an airplane, at a high elevation or while scuba diving. This is normal and, the technicians will show you how to clear your ears while ‘diving’ to pressure.
Once you have reached the prescribed pressure, the feeling of “fullness” in your ears will stop and you will be free to rest, sleep or even watch TV, for the rest of the treatment.
During treatment, if prescribed, you will receive air breaks. This is when the technician or nurse will tell you to apply a mask which will contain room air. This will last for 5-10 minutes. This is to reduce the possible side effects associated with HBOT over multiple treatments.
Towards the end of your treatment, you will go through the ‘Decompression Phase,’ when the pressure will gradually be decreased to sea level, over a period of 5 to 15 minutes. At this time, you may experience a “popping” sensation in your ears.
HBO therapy has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat certain medical conditions and covered by Medicare for 13 indications.
As with all medical treatments, there are a few side effects, and people with certain underlying conditions may not be allowed to undergo HBOT. Ensure that your treatment is medically-supervised by a board-certified provider and that all possible side effects are discussed with you in detail before you sign your consent form.
For best treatment outcomes, avoid the use of alcohol, carbonated beverages and tobacco during your treatment process.
In general, patients are administered HBOT once a day, which for which you are in the chamber for approximately 90 minutes. However, the number of treatments (also known as “dives”), their duration and the exact pressure used will be determined by your provider, based on your need and condition. We utilize Monoplace chambers so each treatment can be independently programed to meet specific needs.
We will provide you with 100% cotton scrubs/gown to wear during the treatment. It is recommended that you do not wear hair products, non-cotton material undergarments, make-up, perfume, jewelry, hearing aid or any other combustible item when entering the hyperbaric chamber.
Due to the high air pressure you will be enduring, it is important that you are free of any combustible items such as mobile phones, hearing aid, hair wig and jewelry. If you have any implanted hardware including a defibrillator or pacemaker, please make the provider aware of this. Also avoid the use of alcohol, carbonated beverages and tobacco during your treatment process.
Advanced Wound Care Solutions Across the Valley – Phoenix, Mesa, Gilbert.