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Lebron James, Rafael Nadal, Cristiano Ronaldo, Madonna … there are several celebrities who travel or have traveled to the hyperbaric medicine. In Uruguay there are athletes who also use it, but it is not yet well known even though it has been around for years.
“Now it is spreading a little more, we are trying to make the benefits known,” the Dr. Veronica Delucchi, Internist and ozonologist, specializing in hyperbaric medicine.
“It is a medical specialty that is based on the administration of high oxygen concentrations in a hyperbaric environment which is at higher pressure than atmospheric. This is achieved in a device that is used for such a purpose called hyperbaric chamber“, Explained who experienced working with the camera that has the Military Hospital and which is practiced today in the clinic Regen therapy, One of the few that handles this technology in our country.
“The main goal of this treatment is enhance the body’s natural systems, Tissue repair through revascularization and angiogenesis (formation of new blood vessels), collagen production, and vasoconstriction, ”Delucchi detailed.
The aforementioned celebrities underwent this treatment to improve their athletic performance, heal an injury or because they believe it helps prolong their life, but hyperbaric medicine is also used to treat pathologies.
One of the first hyperbaric chambers of Uruguay worked first in the National Navy, where it was used to treat the decompressive disease of the bus. “Then it was installed in the Military Hospital, where we work most of the time everything related to tissue repair, whether with ulcers – what we see most -, patients with fibromyalgia or with post-surgical and pre-surgical injuries trying to prevent amputations in limbs, ”Delucchi mentioned among the variety of its uses.
In the years that the professional trained at the Military Hospital, she also had the opportunity to treat the Uruguayan national football team, in 2010, and the tennis player. Pablo Cuevas. Other than that athletes were not the most common users.
Coves explained to El País that in addition to the Military Hospital, he used the camera in Buenos Aires and a less sophisticated one in Salt. “I always did it with the aim of healing an injury by slightly increasing blood circulation, trying to speed up the times at some point and at others to avoid an operation. The result is very difficult to assess, which all I can say is that it didn’t hurt me; I can’t say if it helped me, “he said.
en Regen therapy, Meanwhile, more and more athletes, professionals or amateurs are approaching. “They seek to recover from injuries, improve energy efficiency, shorten recovery times and therefore sports inactivity, prevent fatigue during periods of intense activity, improve exercise tolerance … in short, they are maximizing the its performance, ”he stressed.
They approach on their own initiative, either because they heard about the cameras or because they used them for having been outside, but they don’t come through a club or an institution.
A medicine applicable to various pathologies
In medical clinic, hyperbaric medicine is applied for wounds (ulcers, diabetic foot, burns, implants, pendants, post-surgical wounds, infections), migraines, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, sudden deafness and tinnitus.
Also in rheumatology (osteoarthritis, osteomyelitis), oncology (promotes and accelerates wound healing, radioinduced injuries), neurology (stroke) and sports medicine and traumatology (prepares during training, improves energy efficiency , shortens recovery times, prevents fatigue during periods of intense activity, improves injury rehabilitation).
As absolute contraindications are COPD and ongoing untreated pneumothorax; relative: pregnancy, fever, colds, unhealed eardrum perforation, claustrophobia, old technology pacemaker, uncontrolled epilepsy.
How is the therapy.
It is recommended that the patient be previously evaluated by a physician. “You have to see if it will really make you a profit and what kind of condition you have. Even if it’s a healthy person who wants it just to improve performance, we still evaluate it,” Delucchi detailed.
The person enters the camera in their usual clothes, without shoes. Both the camera and the stretcher are made of a material that is easy to disinfect, which is done following a protocol that today includes the COVID-19.
Inside you can read, listen to music or use your cell phone. “The idea is for the person to take it as something enjoyable, not to be pending … most fall asleep because it causes you to feel like a relaxation,” the specialist noted.
There are always trained staff to assist the user, among other things because at first it can generate a bit of anxiety.
“It ‘s a very secure camera, even for patients with claustrophobia. It is designed with a mechanism so that they can go out on their own. It has an internal ringer connected to another external ringer to communicate with a camera operator. It even has windows through which signals can be made or chatted, ”he described.
It is suggested not to drink alcohol 12 hours before, or to smoke two hours before or two hours after the session. Delucchi explained that “by supplying the air to raise the pressure inside the chamber, a noise is generated like a blow and you can feel a pressure in the ears, similar to the plane, which is reversed by opening the mouth , yawning or swallowing water or saliva “.
they exist two types of cameras: Rigid and semi-rigid. The former have the advantage of their larger volume and that some are multiplaces, ie you can enter more than one person. The disadvantages are the neuroexcitabilidad (patients with risk of convulsions), lower accessibility, greater cost and difficult installation for his operation.
As long as the semi-rigid ones do not generate neuroexcitability and neurological side effects have not been detected, they are of greater accessibility and lower cost, they offer an optimal dissolving power of oxygen in plasma and they have short pressurization and depressurization. The cons are that they cannot be used in dysbaric pathologies, such as the decompressive disease of the bus and the gas embolism, and that to the being of recent manufacture there is less published evidence. “They can be disarmed and moved to where the patient is,” Delucchi delineated.
It is tested for sequelae of COVID-19
the doctor Veronica Delucchi, Who is currently pursuing a master ‘s degree in Hyperbaric medicine, Recently participated in a symposium organized in Argentina in which the effectiveness of the use of hyperbaric chambers to treat sequelae of COVID-19.
“Colleagues from Spain, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico participated, who are experiencing the post COVID syndrome, ie the sequelae that have remained in patients who have had pneumonia by SARS-CoV-2. What has been seen so far is that, adding effects between hyperbaric oxygenation therapy and respiratory rehabilitation, the situation of these patients has greatly improved in terms of the two main symptoms of COVID, which are dyspnea (feeling subjective shortness of breath) and muscle fatigue, ”the specialist explained.
Delucchi clarified that there are still no publications in this regard, but there are already several aimed at different countries, such as Israel. “It happens that a lot of patients are needed for these scientific research studies and they still don’t reach the required number. More documentation is still missing,” the doctor noted.
The professional is currently treating some patients with post-COVID-19 sequelae, who are showing a very good response to hyperbaric medicine.
“I treated a couple of them who are evolving very well and I have four or five others on their way who are currently doing therapy. In addition, we are adding the experience of other countries. Only camera treatment has been done and camera more respiratory rehabilitation and it has been seen that the improvement has been very good adding the two therapies “, the professional emphasized in dialogue with El País.
Is it expensive ?: It depends on how it is evaluated
Each session of hyperbaric chamber (Usually lasts an hour, in specific cases can extend an hour and a half) is around $ 2,500. A basic treatment requires about 20 sessions, although there are cases that require 30 sessions. Ideally, do them every day or day in between.
Given this information, is it an expensive treatment? For the doctor Veronica Delucchi the answer depends on how you look at it. “I’ve had patients who have been dragging for years horrible, deep ulcerated lesions that can be seen to the bone, with a very poor quality of life and in a matter of 20 hyperbaric chamber sessions they improve a lot. If I had done this initial treatment, the result in terms of quality of life and savings in spending on mutualist tickets, medicines, cures … would determine that it is a cheap therapy “, said the specialist.