Celebrating One Year of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Spring 2022

April 2021 Brookings Health System’s Wound Center added two new hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) chambers to care for patients with difficult to heal and non-healing wounds.

HBO therapy is a proven, Medicare-approved treatment in which the patient breathes 100% pure oxygen while inside a pressurized chamber. The air pressure inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber is about two and a half times greater than the normal pressure in the atmosphere.

The treatment causes an increase in plasma and tissue oxygen which stimulates angiogenesis and fights infection in an effort to speed healing. A patient’s treatment course is typically five days a week with sessions ranging from two to three hours.

While HBO therapy is considered a primary treatment for a few conditions, in most cases it is an adjunctive therapy. Please see the chart below for indications for HBO therapy.

Indication	Potential Patient Examples	Recommended Number of Treatments
Diabetic Foot Ulcers (Grade 3)	Diabetic foot ulcers with infection extending to deeper than soft tissue (into muscle, bone)	30 - 40 Treatments
Crush Injury/Compartment Syndrome	Compartment syndrome Blunt force trauma to any part of the body (such as patient who gets kicked by a horse)	URGENT! Start as soon as possible. 20 - 30 Treatments
Thermal Burns		30 Treatments
Compromised Graft/Flaps	Any surgery where tissue is approximated together, if post-op incision edges failing (discoloration). In OP note must state that a flap was created. Skin grafts failing. In the patient where further amputation is needed due to failed surgery site and prepare patient for next surgery with sessions of HBO	*URGENT!* Start as soon as possible 20 - 30 Treatments
Recurrent Osteomyelitis	Recurrent Osteo noted after completion of standard therapy (IV antibiotics)	40 - 60 Treatments
Hypoxic Wounds	Frostbite Critical limb ischemia Calcifilaxis	*URGENT!* Start as soon as possible. 30 Treatments
Gas Gangrene/Necrotizing soft tissue infections	Gas gangrene noted on imaging Necrotizing Fasciitis (after surgical debridementis)	*URGENT!* Start as soon as possible. 30 - 40 Treatments

Brookings Health’s Wound Center is staffed by a multidisciplinary team of providers, nurses and technicians with advanced training in wound care. The approach to wound care is aggressive and comprehensive, coordinating traditional and advanced therapies and techniques that are proven to reduce healing time and improve healing rates.

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