Hyperbaric Oxygen Treats Carbon Monoxide Poisoning and Smoke Inhalation
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a critical treatment for carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, offering rapid and effective removal of carboxyhemoglobin, thereby restoring the blood's capacity to transport oxygen. This therapy involves patients breathing 100% oxygen in a pressurized chamber, significantly increasing oxygen delivery to hypoxic tissues and mitigating the effects of CO exposure. HBOT not only alleviates acute symptoms and reduces inflammation but also enhances cellular recovery by improving mitochondrial function. Clinical studies have demonstrated that HBOT significantly lowers the risk of long-term neurological sequelae and cognitive deficits in patients with CO poisoning. Given its efficacy, HBOT should be considered a standard treatment for acute CO poisoning.
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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a critical treatment for carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, offering rapid and effective removal of carboxyhemoglobin, thereby restoring the blood's capacity to transport oxygen. This therapy involves patients breathing 100% oxygen in a pressurized chamber, significantly increasing oxygen delivery to hypoxic tissues and mitigating the effects of CO exposure. HBOT not only alleviates acute symptoms and reduces inflammation but also enhances cellular recovery by improving mitochondrial function. Clinical studies have demonstrated that HBOT significantly lowers the risk of long-term neurological sequelae and cognitive deficits in patients with CO poisoning. Given its efficacy, HBOT should be considered a standard treatment for acute CO poisoning.
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How Hyperbarics Helps
Helps remove CO and carboxyhemoglobin from the body, which helps the body recover from CO poisoning
Restores oxygen to tissues that have been deprived of oxygen
Delivers oxygen directly to the brain and to damaged tissues
Decreases inflammatory responses
Relieves pain
What the Research Says
Inhaling carbon monoxide (CO) prevents oxygen from reaching the brain, heart, organs, and tissues, leading to CO poisoning. This condition can cause permanent brain damage, organ failure, and even death. CO is a colorless, odorless gas produced by the incomplete combustion of fuels such as natural gas, propane, and gasoline. Inhaling high levels of CO can quickly result in symptoms like headache, nausea, dizziness, and confusion, progressing rapidly to unconsciousness and death.
When CO is inhaled, it forms carboxyhemoglobin, a compound that impairs the blood’s ability to deliver oxygen to the body. Fortunately, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) removes carboxyhemoglobin faster than any other treatment, including oxygen therapy alone. HBOT super-oxygenates body tissues and lungs, delivers oxygen directly to oxygen-deprived tissues, and alleviates pain. It also reduces inflammation in the brain and enhances other aspects of the body’s healing processes, such as improving mitochondrial function within cells, which boosts cellular energy production.
The effectiveness of HBOT for treating CO poisoning has been demonstrated in numerous studies and is recommended for all acute cases of CO poisoning. One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that HBOT significantly reduced the risk of neurological sequelae (long-term neurological damage) in patients with acute CO poisoning. Another study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that HBOT reduced the risk of cognitive and neurological deficits in patients with mild-to-moderate CO poisoning.
Smoke inhalation often accompanies CO poisoning and can cause additional damage to the lungs, nose, and throat. HBOT helps heal smoke inhalation injuries by delivering extra oxygen directly to damaged areas, promoting healing. Thus, HBOT can aid recovery from both CO poisoning and smoke inhalation, facilitate wound healing, and relieve pain.
If you or someone you know has been exposed to high levels of CO, seek medical attention immediately. Consider discussing the potential benefits of HBOT with a medical professional. It is crucial to receive HBOT from a trained and experienced medical professional in a certified hyperbaric facility, such as Bay Area Hyperbarics.
Research Studies
University of Rochester Medical Center
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for CO Poisoning and Decompression Sickness
HBOT is recognized as a critical treatment for CO poisoning and smoke inhalation. It helps by delivering high concentrations of oxygen to the bloodstream, which can rapidly reduce the levels of CO in the body and improve oxygen delivery to tissues. This can mitigate the risk of long-term neurological damage and is often used in severe cases where standard oxygen therapy is insufficient
University of Rochester Medical Center
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for CO Poisoning and Decompression Sickness
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has shown significant positive effects in the treatment of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and smoke inhalation. Here are four medical references supporting its efficacy:
LITFL - Critical Care Compendium
Hyperbaric oxygen for carbon monoxide poisoning
Research studies, including randomized controlled trials, have demonstrated that HBOT can significantly reduce the cognitive sequelae associated with CO poisoning. One such study indicated that patients treated with HBOT had fewer neurological impairments compared to those who received only normobaric oxygen therapy
LITFL - Critical Care Compendium
Hyperbaric oxygen for carbon monoxide poisoning
Research studies, including randomized controlled trials, have demonstrated that HBOT can significantly reduce the cognitive sequelae associated with CO poisoning. One such study indicated that patients treated with HBOT had fewer neurological impairments compared to those who received only normobaric oxygen therapy
Patient Experiences
Listen to what real patients have to say about their experiences.
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Lisa, 44
After seven years of suffering, hyperbaric oxygen therapy healed her osteomyelitis.
Lisa St John, the clinic director for Bay Area Hyperbarics, had chronic refractory osteomyelitis that lasted seven years with no relief. The infection induced severe fatigue and cognitive impairment that prevented her from working, and required her to sleep up to 18 hours per day. Finally, a physician recommended hyperbaric oxygen therapy with antibiotics, which after 60 treatments, healed her. Shortly after being healed, she sold her home to begin her first hyperbaric oxygen therapy clinic, which she has owned for almost 25 years!
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Jennifer, 68
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy eliminated the need for surgery to heal her bone infection.
Jennifer had osteomyelitis of the lower jaw (mandible), which proved difficult to heal. Her teeth were becoming loose, and her doctor thought she would need surgery. However, he prescribed hyperbaric oxygen therapy before the surgery, and after 60 treatments, her chronic refractory osteomyelitis healed completely, regrowing bone in her mandible. Jennifer was able to keep her teeth, and was able to return to her active lifestyle, hiking regularly with her husband.
Physicians: Refer a Patient
Refer a patient in three easy steps.
1
You Submit Your Patient’s Information
As a provider, your office fills out and faxes back the Patient Referral Form. Have questions? Call us!
2
We Get Authorizations
We ensure the patient understands the treatment and follows the prescribed protocol to get the patient on the road to recovery!
3
Patient Starts HBOT
Our medical staff meets with the patient to ensure that HBOT treatment is appropriate and contacts Medicare or private insurance to receive authorization.
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Research on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
To learn more about HBOT, take a look at our FAQs.
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What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy treats medical conditions with 100% oxygen in a pressurized hyperbaric chamber. The patient lies or sits in the chamber. The oxygen then saturates the plasma in the blood, allowing oxygen to easily flow throughout the body and reach even areas that are injured or diseased, which typically receive less oxygen. The mechanisms of hyperbaric oxygen therapy include stimulating and mobilizing stem cells, down-regulating inflammatory genes, up-regulating reproductive cells and stimulating DNA. HBOT also regrows tiny blood vessels, and stimulates the growth of new healthy cells in the brain, bones, skin, organs, and tissues. People seek hyperbaric oxygen therapy to heal physical damage in their bodies and to promoting health and anti-aging.
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Does HBOT kill cancer cells?
Current research indicates that hyperbaric oxygen does not kill cancer cells. However, there has been a small amount of research indicating that hyperbaric oxygen might reduce the size of certain tumors. Also, there has been a study on mice using hyperbaric oxygen, along with a ketogenic diet, to reduce tumors. Hyperbaric oxygen causes many different healing modalities to kick into gear. Could its effect on strengthening the immune system inhibit the growth of cancer cells? Nobody knows. There are numerous studies conclusively showing that hyperbaric oxygen does not encourage cancer cells or tumors to grow. Some patients claim the hyperbaric oxygen makes them feel a lot more comfortable and functional after chemotherapy and also during healing. Note that some chemotherapy drugs are not to be used with hyperbaric oxygen, as the chemotherapy drugs can be enhanced and thus become toxic. A good hyperbaric oxygen facility (such as Bay Area Hyperbarics) will always call the chemotherapy manufacturer to ensure that hyperbaric oxygen therapy will be helpful and not damaging to the patient.
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IWhat is the CPT code for HBOT?
The CPT code for HBOT is G0277.
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Does Medicare cover HBOT?
Medicare covers Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for approved conditions, and many insurance companies also cover approved conditions. If your condition is not approved by your insurance, we can discuss our special rates. Give us a call at (408) 356–7438. We are happy to discuss your options with you.
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Can HBOT help Neuropathy?
Hyperbaric treatments help heal neuropathy by regrowing small blood vessels and nerves that have died from disease, injuries from radiation and aging. Patients often experience numbness and or pain when they start treatment. Hyperbaric treatments most often bring back sensation and make, for example, walking easier and more enjoyable.
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Why would a physician consider HBOT?
A physician would consider using hyperbaric chamber therapy under a variety of situations. Physicians most typically refer patients to hyperbarics when the patient is not healing with traditional medical interventions and hyperbaric chamber therapy is approved by Medicare for this condition. Some patients experience significant unresolved pain and unremitting disease states that the mechanisms of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in a hyperbaric chamber are known to affect, such as the down regulation of inflamatory genes. For an example, some patients have experienced severe, unremitting hives with itching, which did not improve with any specialists interventions. Some physicians will consider hyperbaric chamber therapy if the patient has no other good avenues for improving their failing health, and they know the hyperbaric chamber therapy is safe and will not harm the patient.
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What is Hypebaric Oxygen Therapy?
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HB0T) is a medical treatment where you inhale 100% oxygen in a chamber with increased atmospheric pressure. HBOT injects 400x the oxygen into your tissues and bones and mobilizes stem cells. It regrows healthy tissues in the brain, blood vessels, skin and bones. It also reduces pain and swelling, and speeds recovery. It is simple, effective and painless.
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