Hyperbaric Medicine (HBO)
Merit Health Central's hyperbaric medicine treatment options surround patients with difficult wounds with 100% oxygen in a comfortable, pressurized chamber. This saturation promotes the body’s natural immune system and healing responses, allowing wounds to heal more easily, from the inside out.
Hyperbaric oxygen treatments are beneficial for patients who have certain types of complicated or slow-healing wounds, such as bone infections or diabetic foot ulcers. The treatments work in conjunction with other treatments, such as antibiotics, to accelerate the healing process.
Wound care specialists may use hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat conditions such as:
- Air or gas embolisms
- Bone infections
- Burns
- Crush injuries and other traumatic injuries that compromise blood supply to tissues
- Decompression sickness
- Gangrene
- Poisoning from carbon monoxide or cyanide
- Pressure sores
- Radiation treatment injuries or thermal burns
- Refractory osteomyelitis
- Skin grafts
- Wounds that have not healed with other therapies, such as diabetic foot ulcers
Your doctor can determine whether this therapy is right for you.