Commonly Treated Conditions
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Colic:
HBOT helps restore blood flow to tissues after colic
surgery. It also reduces obstructive swelling in the intestinal
tissue and improves oxygenation of the resection (after
abdominal surgery to correct colon torsion, small intestine
strangulation, etc.) It’s been found that many colic cases
respond much better to surgery when treated with HBOT
before and after surgery.
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Laminitis & Navicular Syndrome:
HBOT can arrest laminitis
in the early stages. If you can treat the horse before the
structures in the foot collapse (before there is crushing of the
blood vessels), it is very effective.
Effects of oxygen therapy on problems like navicular syndrome and
laminitis are now being studied. Researchers at the University of
Tennessee are starting controlled studies on laminitis to get the data
needed to document the effects of HBOT.
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Infections:
HBOT increases blood flow to the infection site,
which increases the amount of antibiotic delivery. The extra
oxygen also increases the effectiveness of the antibiotic,
magnifying the way it works against bacteria. High-dose
oxygen tends to potentiate the effect of some antibiotics,
such as sulfamethoxazole (SMZ). You are also getting 15
times the amount of oxygen to a tissue that was lacking
oxygen due to infection of poor circulation. Oxygen also
stimulates faster cell turnover and thus faster healing.
Oxygen acts to kill bacteria. Most bacteria causing serious
infection are anaerobic—working best in an environment
without oxygen. At pressure, with oxygen at a higher level, it
is also detrimental to aerobic bacteria. Extra oxygen also
helps white blood cells function better to kill the organisms.
Certain antibiotics such as gentocin and amikacin don’t work
well in low-oxygen environments. Oxygen therapy enhances
their function and gives a whole combination of benefits.
HBOT is an adjunctive therapy; you still use antibiotics and
anti-inflammatory drugs and other treatments. It’s a
component process in which everything is working together.
- Abscesses:
Internal abscesses (such as in the lungs or the
abdomen) are sometimes not diagnosed early. By the time
they are diagnosed, there is a thick-walled capsule of
connective tissue around them that keeps antibiotics from
reaching the site. This results in prolonged antibiotic
treatment (often with no resolution of the abscess) at high
cost to the owner, and potentially fatal consequences for the
horse. HBOT helps the antibiotic get to the site and enhances
its ability to fight the infection.
- Soft Tissue Injuries:
Many injuries result in inflammation and
swelling. Studies have shown that soft tissue injuries treated
with HBOT recover in half the time. New blood vessels form
more quickly, improving blood supply to injured areas, and
there is swift reduction in edema (swelling). Since oxygen is
normally carried by red blood cells, any tissues with a
compromised blood supply suffer from poor healing. But with
HBOT, oxygen is forced into all body fluids and delivered to
areas with restricted circulation.
Injured tendons and ligaments respond well to treatment;
HBOT can be useful in dealing with bowed tendons, surgical
repair of tendon or ligament injuries, etc. Surgical traumas
(incisions) also heal faster with HBOT, as do large surface
wounds and pressure sores. It decreases tissue swelling and
helps salvage damaged tissues in traumatic injury. In chronic
wounds, it assists growth of new skin and stimulates collagen
production.
- Reproductive Problems:
A prominent DVM wrote an article
three years ago and described how he’d treated some older
stallions for laminitis and noticed an increase in fertility. After
reading that, Winstar (the first Thoroughbred farm in
Kentucky to have an HBOT chamber) treated their stallion
“Kris S.” in the chamber, and there was a very dramatic
change. The stallion’s covers in the breeding shed had
declined, but after HBOT treatments his libido increased
(along with his sperm count), and the morphology (cell
structure) of his semen was much improved.
- Dummy Foals and Other Neurological Problems:
Used on dummy foals, it reduces edema. The oxygen in a pressure
chamber has the ability to penetrate the cerebrospinal fluid.
Head and spinal trauma often create neurological damage,
thought to result from swelling of these tissues within a
confined space, loss of blood and oxygen supply, and the
sequential effects of these factors on nervous tissue. HBOT
reduces the swelling and increases the blood supply.
Herpes Viruses 1-4 can be treated successfully with
HBOT
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