How Hyperbaric Oxygen Works
Hyperbaric Oxygen is basically pure oxygen delivered under pressure in a special chamber.
A hyperbaric oxygen chamber is a sealed enclosure, into which oxygen is pumped under a controlled amount of pressure. The secret of how Hyperbaric Oxygen works is the pressure component. It's critical for moving the oxygen into the blood stream and into organs and tissue.
The chamber may consist of:
- A pressure vessel that is generally made of steel and aluminium with the view ports (windows) or hull made of acrylic.
- One or more human entry hatches—these could be small and circular or wheel-in type hatches for patients on trolleys
- An airlock allowing human entry—a separate chamber with two hatches, one to the outside world and one to the main chamber, which can be independently pressurized to allow patients to enter or exit the main chamber while it is still pressurized (usually in hospital facilities)
- An airlock allowing medicines, instruments and food to enter the main chamber
- Glass ports or closed-circuit television allowing the technicians and medical staff outside the chamber to monitor the inside of the chamber
- An intercom allowing two-way communications inside and outside the chamber
- A carbon dioxide scrubber—consisting of a fan that passes the gas inside the chamber through a soda lime canister
- A control panel outside the chamber is used to open and close valves allowing air to enter or leave the chamber and oxygen to be supplied to oxygen helmets or masks
A chamber can be for one or many people. A chamber for more than one person is called a "multi-place" chamber and one for a single person is called a "mono-place" chamber.
Why It Works
Hyperbaric comes from the greek where "hyper" means more and "baric" relates to pressure. This amounts to "more pressure."
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy allows a patient to breathe up to 4 times the normal amount of oxygen. This increases the oxygenation of all organs, tissues, and body fluids. It is the pressure of the chamber that allows for the much greater absorption of the oxygen provided. Breathing 100% pure oxygen outside the chamber will not significantly increase your oxygen uptake by the cells at all.
When a patient is in the chamber, the increased pressure causes the blood plasma and other liquids of the body to absorb much larger quantities of oxygen, greatly increasing oxygen uptake by the cells, tissues, glands, organs, brain, and all fluids of the body. This becomes a “goldmine” of oxygen, which can then be utilized by the body for vital functions. That really is the secret of how hyperbaric oxygen works.
Blood plasma would not normally be able to absorb this increased amount of oxygen.
This increase in oxygen allows for increased circulation to areas in spite of swelling or inflammation. At the same time, the increased pressure decreases the swelling and inflammation.
This additional oxygen helps in the healing process and enhances the white blood cells’ ability to fight infection. It can promote the development of new capillaries, the tiny blood vessels that connect arteries to veins. It also helps the body build new connective tissue.
By providing the cells with an abundance of oxygen, the cells react by becoming more energized. The cells can now function more efficiently and carry out their processes in an accelerated manner.
The Science Behind HBOT
HBOT works because of the physical properties of gases under pressure, specifically, oxygen at pressure greater than 1 atmosphere.
Oxygen is essential in a variety of enzymatic, biochemical, and physiologic interactions that promote normal cellular respiration and tissue function. Mono-oxygenase, intradioxygenase, and interdioxygenase are specific enzymes that recruit oxygen as a cofactor to perform required biologic processes. Collagen deposition and synthesis depend on an oxygen-dependent prolyl-hydroxylase hydroxylation of proline. Angiogenesis and epithelization also are oxygen dependent.
Under normal conditions, 97.5% of oxygen is carried in the bloodstream bound to hemoglobin. The remaining 2.5% is dissolved in plasma. Oxygen is combined with hemoglobin in the bloodstream, with each gram of hemoglobin combined with 1.34 cm 3 of oxygen. This represents a physiologic maximum. Under normal conditions at sea level, the arterial hemoglobin saturation is 97%, and the venous hemoglobin saturation is 70%.
The total oxygen content of blood under hyperbaric conditions is equal to the oxygen content calculation plus the dissolved oxygen content. The average metabolic consumption of oxygen by the human body at sea level is 6.6 cm3/100 cm3 of blood. Under hyperbaric conditions, while breathing 100% oxygen, the total dissolved oxygen content delivered can even surpass the metabolic requirements, meaning that oxygen can be supplied under these conditions even in the absence of hemoglobin.
The Physics of HBOT
Charles law states that if a volume of gas is kept constant, the temperature varies with the pressure. Together, Charles and Boyle laws are known as the general gas law, expressed as P1V1/T1 = P2V2/T2. Henry law states that "at a constant temperature, the amount of a gas that will dissolve in a liquid is proportional to the partial pressure of the gas."
So what does this mean in layman's terms?
So to summarize how it works...
Hyperbaric Oxygen dissolves increased oxygen into your blood plasma and cerebrospinal fluid.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy dissolves much greater amounts of oxygen into your cells, tissues, and organs.
One of the most important facts to understand is that the health and functioning of your brain is most sensitive to oxygen deficiencies. The brain is also the most responsive organ to oxygen super-saturation. This the reason stroke victims, as well as other patients who have brain and nervous system-related conditions, and those with cognitive difficulties, respond so well to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
