Modern Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

This section will help you answer the questions that you might be most interested in when considering the possibility of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

• HBOT is recommended and proposed by a general practitioner or a specialist physician within the treatment of a primary disease, in agreement with a HBOT medical specialist, who decides whether HBOT is appropriate for the particular patient and determines the number of exposures.
• Duration of treatment, i.e. number of exposures, depends on the diagnosis of the underlying disease and development of the client's clinical status during the treatment (usually 10 exposures).
• Results are continuously monitored by the doctor who recommended the treatment and the hyperbaric physician.

Patients are required to provide the hyperbaric chamber personnel with information on their current health status before treatment:

• information on their disease;
• information on current health status, women about a possible pregnancy;
• information on infectious diseases for which he / she has been treated;
• information on medicines being taken;
• information on food consumed just before HBOT;
• information on alcoholic beverages consumed before HBOT;
• information on treated or untreated diabetes (if so, information on medicines used to treat it – e.g. insulin);
• information on patient's confinement anxiety i.e. claustrophobia.

• recommendation from the doctor who requests – indicates HBOT, including the diagnosis (in words and with diagnosis code);
• health insurance card (not for self-payers),
• ENT examination (tympanography), if indicated, especially in order to limit the risk of barotraumas.

Especially for patients:

• after operations on the larynx or laryngeal reconstructions (partial laryngectomy, epiglottoplasty);
• after middle ear reconstruction;
• very frequent and recurrent otitis media, followed by hearing impairment (possibility of drum retraction defects and the risk of drum perforation due to pressure changes during exposure).

Before treatment, the client who has been recommended for HBOT is advised about the following:

• course and method of treatment;
• desirable and undesirable effects of HBOT;
• measures that must be complied with throughout the treatment;
• reporting on adverse effects and changes in health status, if any occur;
• adherence to the prescribed treatment and regular checkups by the treating doctor;
• keeping the HBOT appointments (clients should report any absence in advance by phone);
• what is allowed and not allowed to be taken into the chamber;
• feeling of pressure in the ears and the manoeuvres which can equalize the pressure in the middle ear cavity and open access to the Eustachian tube;
• Valsalva manoeuvre - attempting to forcibly exhale while keeping the nose and mouth closed;
• Toynbee manoeuvre - closing the nasal holes and swallowing;
• patients should start these manoeuvres as soon as the compression is started, at the latest when there is a sense of pressure in the ears;
• precautionary safety measures and rules to be observed throughout the stay in the hyperbaric chamber;
• during the treatment patients must seat at a predetermined location, not get up and walk;
• absolute and unconditional subordination to instructions of chamber personnel;
• no talking during compression while wearing the oxygen breathing mask;
• no arbitrary taking off the mask, breathing should be free, spontaneous and relaxed, patients can listen to music through headphones, read or rest;
• every seat has an emergency button which, in case of emergencies or problems, can be used to alert the chamber personnel;
• risks that arise from not observing treatment and safety regulations.

• clothing to stay in the hyperbaric chamber, made of pure cotton with no synthetic fibres, including underwear (our HBOT Centre provides Certified Garments – a shirt, trousers, socks, and also a respiratory mask with a connecting hose, which will become the patient's property and will be used throughout the whole therapy);
• it is appropriate to have chewing gum or sweets with you to assist in offsetting the pressure in the Eustachian tube during pressure increases or decreases in the chamber
• a magazine or thin book;
• a cotton handkerchief

• synthetic clothing (silone, nylon, polyester),
• cosmetics, deodorants, make-up,
• wigs, hair sprays,
• jewellery – gold or silver,
• contact lenses, glasses,
• watches,
• mobile phones,
• cigarette lighters, cigarettes,
• closed containers, glass bottles, alcohol,
• metal objects, coins, pens,
• elastic bandages,
• wounds must not be covered in ointment, only aqueous solutions are allowed.