Chronic Refractory Osteomyelitis

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used for hard-to-treat bone infections. During these treatments, you breathe pressurized oxygen while you lie inside a clear plastic tube. The extra oxygen helps your body repair damage to your bones and fight infection. Each treatment can take up to 2 hours. Side effects from the treatment are rare.

Hyperbaric [hahy-per-bar-ik] oxygen therapy is a treatment for many kinds of illnesses and injuries. During this treatment, you breathe pure oxygen in a special chamber where the air pressure is two or three times higher than normal. This lets your lungs take in more oxygen than they normally can. The extra oxygen helps your body heal and fight infection.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is usually considered safe and side effects are rare. However, there are some risks associated with the high air pressure used. These risks include:

• Ruptured eardrum
• Collapsed lung
• Temporary nearsightedness (not being able to clearly see things that are far away). This usually goes away in a few days or weeks after your last treatment.

Another risk with hyperbaric oxygen treatment is seizure caused by too much oxygen in your body.

If you have osteomyelitis [o s-tee-oh-mahy-uh-lahy-tis], an infection in your bones, and the infection has not gone away with usual treatments, hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help you get better. This treatment increases the amount of oxygen that goes to the infected bone. Extra oxygen helps your body repair damage from the infection and makes antibiotics work better, too. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can save lives and limbs.

You should not drink any alcohol within 8 hours of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Because oxygen can cause a fire if there is a spark, you should never bring a lighter or any device with a battery in it into the hyperbaric oxygen treatment area.

Avoid skin care products with petroleum jelly before treatment. They are also a fire hazard around oxygen.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy usually is given at a special outpatient clinic. You will lie on a table inside a long clear plastic tube. The tube will be sealed and filled with pressurized oxygen. You might feel popping or fullness in your ears, similar to the way you feel taking off in an airplane. If this happens, it can help to swallow or yawn.

The clinic staff will be able to see and hear you during your treatment and you can talk to them. You should try to relax and breathe normally. Your treatment might take up to 2 hours. You might feel tired or lightheaded afterwards. This should go away soon.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is only one part of treatment for chronic or refractory [ri-frak-tuh-ree] bone infection (infection that doesn’t go away or comes back after treatment). You will also take medicine such as antibiotics and you might have surgery. You may need many treatment sessions with hyperbaric oxygen. Healing this type of infection can take time.

You should keep all of your appointments for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Each treatment builds on the one before to help you get better.

After a hyperbaric oxygen treatment, you should:

• Get plenty of rest for the next 24 hours.
• Drink lots of fluids; avoid alcohol and caffeinated drinks such as coffee, tea, and colas.
• Avoid taking hot showers or tub baths for 24 hours.
• Do not participate in any strenuous activities for 48 hours.
• Do not fly in any private or commercial aircraft for at least 24 hours.