Bloomington, IL,
01
June
2017
|
16:47 PM
America/Chicago

Innovative Oxygen Therapy with OSF HealthCare

OSF Wound Care Clinic unveils new hyperbaric oxygen chambers

The OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center Wound Care Clinic is offering an innovative way to help patients heal: hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). The clinic recently underwent a major renovation to make room for two Sechrist Model 4100 hyperbaric oxygen chambers from Healogics Inc.

During hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the patient enters a special chamber to breathe in pure oxygen in air pressure levels higher than average. The goal is to fill the blood with enough oxygen to repair tissues and restore normal body function. HBOT helps wound healing by bringing oxygen-rich plasma to tissue starved for oxygen.

“Our multidisciplinary team is delighted to be providing our community the most advance wound care treatment available that is close to home,” said Ira Halperin, MD, medical director of OSF Wound Care Clinic. “We’re dedicated to delivering the individualized care needed to achieve complete healing of complex wounds.”

Wound injuries damage the body’s blood vessels, which release fluid that leaks into the tissues and causes swelling. This swelling deprives the damaged cells of oxygen, and tissue starts to die. HBOT reduces swelling while flooding the tissues with oxygen. The elevated pressure in the chamber increases in the amount of oxygen in the blood. HBOT aims to break the cycle of swelling, oxygen starvation and tissue death.

These hyperbaric (single patient) oxygen chambers are the largest and most advanced in the world. Extended room allows a patient to rest reclined, thus making their treatment more comfortable and anxiety free. Access to this treatment gives patients with chronic non-healing wounds another option or chance of saving a limb. Hyperbaric oxygen along with adjunctive wound therapies can decrease wound healing time for chronic wounds that would otherwise go unhealed.

In the United States, chronic wounds affect 6.7 million people and the incidence is expected to rise at2 percent annually over the next decade. An aging population and increasing rates of diseases and conditions such as diabetes, obesity and the late effects of radiation therapy contribute to the chronic wound epidemic.

Untreated, chronic wounds can lead to diminished quality of life and possibly amputation of the affected limb.

Wound care treatment options at the OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center Wound Care Clinic include negative pressure wound therapy, bio-engineered tissues, biosynthetic dressings, growth factor therapies and the recent addition of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.