Jun 21, 2006 9:02 am US/Central
Good Question: What Is A Hyperbaric Chamber?
by Ben Tracy
(WCCO)
Several victims from a recent apartment fire in St. Paul were treated for severe smoke inhalation in a hyperbaric chamber. So, what is a hyperbaric chamber and how does it work?
The only one in Minnesota is at Hennepin County Medical Center. The hospital has four chambers in a room full of levers and gadgets and it is not new technology.
"This chamber was built in 1964," said Dr. Cheryl Adkinson, the director of hyperbaric medicine at HCMC.
Hyperbaric means pressure which is higher than the normal atmospheric pressure within our body tissues or fluids.
"The more we pressurize it than the higher the dose of oxygen and that results in saturating all the tissues with high levels of oxygen," said Adkinson.
They call each session in the chamber a "dive" as it resembles the pressure of being underwater. A recent session involved several medical residents who were required to go through a 20 minute session so they can experience what their patients will.
The residents experienced pressure equivalent to diving 120 feet under the water. But how does this help treat smoke inhalation?
"Smoke contains carbon monoxide," Adkinson explained. "Carbon monoxide interferes with oxygen delivery to tissues and what this does is get rid of carbon monoxide and supplies oxygen to tissues in the meantime."
During each session patients breathe 100 percent oxygen as opposed to the 21 percent we usually breathe in the outside air. Without the pressure, the oxygen would not dissolve in our tissue.
"It causes the lungs to give a lot more oxygen in the blood," said Adkinson.
What takes just 40 minutes in the chamber would take our body 10 hours on its own.
Doctors use the hyperbaric chamber to treat everything from carbon monoxide poisoning to decompression sickness from scuba diving. They even use it to help severe wounds from trauma or surgery heal faster. Most sessions take about two hours, but they can last up to eight hours.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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