By Mayo Clinic Staff
Your body's tissues need an adequate supply of oxygen to function. When tissue is injured, it requires even more oxygen to survive. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases the amount of oxygen your blood can carry. An increase in blood oxygen temporarily restores normal levels of blood gases and tissue function to promote healing and fight infection.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat several medical conditions. And medical institutions use it in different ways. Your doctor may suggest hyperbaric oxygen therapy if you have one of the following conditions:
Anemia, severe
Brain abscess
Bubbles of air in your blood vessels (arterial gas embolism)
Burn
Decompression sickness
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Crushing injury
Deafness, sudden
Gangrene
Infection of skin or bone that causes tissue death
Nonhealing wounds, such as a diabetic foot ulcer
Radiation injury
Skin graft or skin flap at risk of tissue death
Vision loss, sudden and painless
The evidence is insufficient to support claims that hyperbaric oxygen therapy can effectively treat the following conditions:
AIDS/HIV
Allergies
Alzheimer's disease
Arthritis
Asthma
Autism
Bell's palsy
Brain injury
Cancer
Cerebral palsy
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Cirrhosis
Depression
Fibromyalgia
Gastrointestinal ulcers
Heart disease
Heatstroke
Hepatitis
Migraine
Multiple sclerosis
Parkinson's disease
Spinal cord injury
Sports injury
Stroke