Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy - Hyperbaric Chamber Information ...

Conclusions
Safety
Potential risks for patients undergoing therapy with hyperbaric oxygen are myopia,
barotrauma, claustrophobia or oxygen toxicity. Estimates of incidence are uncertain,
although most adverse events are self-limiting and resolve after termination of therapy.
Serious, life-threatening events are rare, but real, causes of major concern.
Published guidelines seek to provide industry-wide acceptance of recommendations and
requirements for the safe operation of hyperbaric facilities. Staffing levels, training, and
qualifications are explicitly provided by these documents.
Effectiveness
The evaluation found evidence of HBOT effectiveness in diabetic wounds and limited
evidence of effectiveness in the prevention of osteoradionecrosis, crush injuries, cluster
and migraine headaches and facial paralysis. Insufficient evidence or conflicting evidence
for HBOT use was found in the following conditions: thermal burns, non-diabetic
wounds, necrotising soft tissue infections, treatment of osteoradionecrosis, skin graft
survival, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral obstructive arterial disease, sudden deafness,
cancer of the head and neck, cervix and bladder, lymphoma and neuroblastoma, carbon
monoxide poisoning, necrotising arachnidism, actinomycosis, soft tissue radionecrosis,
cerebral palsy, Crohn’s disease, Legg-Calve-Perthes disease and osteoporosis.
There is evidence of a lack of any beneficial effect in multiple sclerosis and limited
evidence of a lack of effectiveness in osteomyelitis, acute myocardial infarction, acute
ankle sprains and cancer of the lung.
The following indications were not formally evaluated as the Supporting Committee
agreed that they have little clinical acceptance and/or have been minimally reported in
the literature: cyanide poisoning, head trauma, cerebral oedema, acquired brain injury,
cognitive impairment, senile dementia, glaucoma, keratoendotheliosis, HIV infection,
anaemia from exceptional blood loss, insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, facial neuritis,
arthritis, spinal injuries and non-union of fractures.
Cost-effectiveness
The estimated cost of monoplace HBOT treatment in this report is not a precise estimate
based on actual studies, but is based on estimates of staffing and capital costs of a
hyperbaric monoplace unit from expert opinion. Moreover the evidence of effectiveness
used is subject to considerable uncertainty as detailed in the clinical effectiveness sections
of the report. This means that the cost-effectiveness ratios presented here are only
indicative estimates, which may be sensitive to more precise estimates of the costs and
effectiveness of HBOT treatment. Based on this evidence it seems that HBOT could be
cost-effective in the treatment of diabetic wounds, and necrotising soft tissue infections.
It could save resources in those treatments. The cost of $28,480 per case of
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy 91