Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a therapeutic procedure the administration of which requires placing the whole body of the patients inside a compartment where the pressure is fixed at a level that is considerably higher than the normal atmospheric pressure. In the hyperbaric chamber the patient breathes 100% pure oxygen. This therapy is used worldwide as an aid to various surgical procedures and medical emergencies.
The service of this therapy is sought to supply oxygen to the tissues and cells that fail to respond to the normal atmospheric level of oxygen. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is premised upon the hypotheses where the increment of atmospheric pressure leads to the intensification of the available oxygen without facilitating any extra oxygen supply. This whole therapy is based on Henry’s gas pressure assumption which relates that the rate and the amount at which a gas dissolves in a liquid is directly proportional to the pressure that is exerted on the gaseous element.
Blood cells differ in their capacity of carrying oxygen. RBC’s this capacity is limited due the presence of hemoglobin, but blood plasma provides greater room for accommodating oxygen, so it can be hyper-oxygenated. Since this therapy takes place at a higher pressure inside a chamber, so the pressure on the gas is also augmented leading it to be forcefully dissolved in the patient’s bloods plasma. This increased presence of oxygen in the bloodstream enables the tissues to absorb the excess oxygen.
This therapy takes care of edema by affecting vasoconstriction that enables the blood capillaries to resume back to its normal shape. The aerobic metabolism is resumed in the diseased unresponsive tissues together with causing detoxification that prevents festering in the tissues. The augmented level of oxygen in the blood also helps to support and accelerate the functioning of anti-biotic. Another important feature of this therapy is that it helps in the enhancement of oxygen supply to those cells whose functioning capability has been compromised due to the paucity in the oxygen supply.
