There are many health benefits to hyperbaric oxygen therapy for your pet. Our Fort Pierce vets will explain the process and how it can be beneficial for your pet.
What Is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) has been widely utilized in human medicine for years to treat everything from the “bends”, to anemia.
Using hyperbaric oxygen therapy is relatively new in pets with only a handful of veterinary hospitals nationwide utilizing it. During hyperbaric oxygen therapy, your pet is placed safely and comfortably in a chamber with 100% oxygen and an atmospheric pressure up to three times that of normal to deliver more oxygen to the tissues throughout their body.
How Can It Help Your Pet?
Generally, hyperbaric oxygen therapy may result in a reduction in swelling, stimulation of new blood vessel formation into the healing/swollen tissue, a reduction in pressure caused by head or spinal cord injuries, improved wound healing, and improved infection control. The consequence of this is a greater amount of oxygen making it into the patient's bloodstream, which encourages better healing.
Is It Efficient And Does It Has Some Side Effects?
The lack of side effects on your pet is another benefit of this treatment. There are some possible side effects that you may want to look out for including ear problems, barotrauma, and visual disturbances.
Pets should be watched closely after the treatment to make sure they don't have any signs of illness. Your pet may benefit from follow-up treatments after therapy. The risk of side effects can be kept to a minimum through the proper administration of the treatment, such as accurate dosing and the duration of the treatment.
Conditions It Can Be Used For
There are many conditions that hyperbaric oxygen treatment can be used for including:
- Central Nervous System- HBO has proven to be successful in providing relief for cranial/spinal cord trauma, cerebral ischemia, compressive cord disease, cortical blindness, fibrocartilaginous emboli, tetraparesis, peripheral nerve damage, and traumatic brain injury.
- Infectious Diseases- It can be used to treat pets with Lyme disease, intracranial abscess, abdominal abscess, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, septicemia, endotoxemia, blastomycosis, and necrotizing infections.
- Cardiovascular- HBO is used to treat pets with cardiac infarctions, stroke, CO toxicity, cyanide poisoning, smoke inhalation, hypotension, acute anemia, reperfusion disease, and lymphangitis.
- Gastrointestinal- Issues including pancreatitis, gastric ulcers, peritonitis, ileus, and reperfusion can be treated.
- Musculoskeletal- HBO is now being used to help your pet with fracture repair, tendonitis, crush injuries, soft tissue injuries, tendonitis, myositis, desmitis, laminitis, periostitis, fibromyalgia.
- Wounds- Compromised grafts and flaps, select problem-healing wounds, thermal burns, snake bite envenomation, and spider bite envenomation can benefit from this therapy.
- Respiratory- Sinusitis, rhinitis, pulmonary edema, Rhodococcus, pleuritis, iatrogenic gas embolism, and exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage can be treated with HBO.