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Article: Pressured back to health: hyperbaric oxygen therapy.(Letters to the Editor)
- Article from:
- Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
- Article date:
- November 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 The Townsend Letter Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) places patients in an oxygen-rich, pressurized chamber. This significantly increases the amount of oxygen in the body. At normal atmospheric pressure, it is almost exclusively the red blood cells that carry oxygen. Under increased pressure, the plasma of the blood carries significant amounts of oxygen as well, even taking the oxygen to places the red blood cells are unable to go. Increased levels of oxygen are found even in the cerebrospinal fluid and joint fluid.
In the US, there are 13 FDA-approved uses for HBOT:
Air Embolism
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Complications of Radiation Therapy
Crush ...