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From: brianm@bigtuna.UUCP (Brian Martin)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Hyperbaric chambers
Message-ID: <164@bigtuna.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 20-Aug-85 22:20:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: bigtuna.164
Posted: Tue Aug 20 22:20:38 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Aug-85 02:20:38 EDT
References: <927@sdcsla.UUCP> <18400006@convexs>
Reply-To: brianm@bigtuna.UUCP (Brian Martin)
Organization: University of Hawaii, Bekesy Lab, Neurophysiology
Lines: 18
Summary: 


The problem with hyperbaric oxygen is that the high concentration of superoxide
radicals can do lots of damage to your body.  However, hyperbaric oxygen is
being used experimentally in spinal cord trauma patients.  Basically, the
approach is to use hyperbaric oxygen to raise the tissue oxygen level to 5%, 
which is high enough to keep neural tissue alive when the vascular suppply of
oxygen has been compromised.

For example, an acute spinal cord patient enters the hyperbaric chamber
essentially paralyzed due to loss of the blood supply to a certain region
of his spinal cord, but he is able to walk again when he leaves the chamber.
Later that evening, as he starts to lose function in his legs, where the
level of function correllates to tissue oxygen levels, he goes back to the
hyperbaric chamber for another treatment.  This goes on until the blood
supply to the hypoxic region of his spinal cord is reestablished.

Brian Martin
University of Hawaii School of Medicine