Hillcrest South’s Advanced Wound Center offers patients in wound management a therapy to help speed healing by delivering 100 percent oxygen under increased pressure to the patient. Some wounds are resistant to healing without hyperbaric oxygen therapy, because they are defined as hypoxic, meaning they do not receive enough oxygen to form necessary collagen to heal. Since most of the time we are inhaling air that consists of about 20 percent oxygen, being placed in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, increases the concentration of oxygen we consume five-fold, and two to three times more oxygen than by using an oxygen mask alone.
As our bodies build new tissue to help heal wounds, they must supply new blood vessels to deliver oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. This process is called angiogenesis. To help boost this process, the best course of action is a higher level of oxygen in the area of the wound. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy also helps white blood cells do a better job of killing off bacteria, reducing the risk of infection. Patients may also experience less edema (swelling) after treatment in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
Talk to your health care provider if you have a wound that won’t heal. You may qualify for treatment at the Advanced Wound Center and benefit from hyperbaric oxygen medicine.
Hillcrest South offers two state-of-the-art Sechrist hyperbaric oxygen chambers. For health care providers, please call 918-294-HEAL to refer a patient. The Advanced Wound Center at Hillcrest South services South Tulsa and surrounding areas.