HBOT Saving Lives, Limbs After Haiti Quake

That's not the American hospital ship USS Comfort but the Italian carrier Cavour bringing hyperbaric wound care to earthquake victims in Haiti. The two are now working side by side offshore. Captain Gianluigi Reversi reports his ship's chamber—the only HBOT facility in the vicinity—has treated 30 patients and already "saved several legs and arms from amputation."

No doubt many of the Cavour's patients have suffered crush injuries. CNN's Dr Sanjay Gupta and other correspondents and first responders have been struck by the challenges of such complex wounds. Crush injuries may often lead to kidney failure by rhabdomyolysis, which the CDC has identified as one of the most urgent health concerns in the aftermath of the quake.

"If head injuries are the hallmark of the war in Afghanistan, the Haiti earthquake will be known for crush injuries," said Gupta.

Read the full report, "Crush injuries can be deceptively dangerous," at CNN.com.

PatientsLikeMe: Fanned, Followed, Fast Companied

Fast Company magazine just recognized what we've long known about PatientsLikeMe, naming the company among its most innovative of 2010. Innovative indeed—and right up our alley. A beautifully conceived website "committed to providing a better, more effective way to capture valuable results and share them with patients, healthcare professionals, and industry organizations that are trying to treat the disease," PatientsLikeMe ingeniously balances patients' desire for privacy with their need for openness.

For patients (maybe like you) this important site represents the highest and best use of the Internet we can imagine, and as it expands we're eager to see our HyperbaricLink online community participate and benefit. Especially popular is PatientsLikeMe's fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome section, some 12,000 strong and growing. But there's nobody home in the hyperbaric oxygen therapy room, which O2.0 readers will find in move-in condition. And it's free to join.

Topfen: Part Of This Complete Breakfast

Laugh if you want, but Lindsey Vonn just won Olympic gold thanks in part to an Austrian cheese spread. Trainers slathered the yogurt-like topfen or quark on her badly bruised right shin to reduce swelling. Our favorite (serious) explanation of the treatment, from Slate:

In all likelihood, topfen's physiological benefits redound to its spreadable texture. Unlike other cultured dairy products like buttermilk or firm cheese, topfen can be slathered on like any other medicinal cream. When chilled, the product would feel cool on an inflamed limb and act as a mild analgesic. The cheese may also simply serve as a placebo, providing a small degree of mental comfort to an injured athlete. Since the brain plays such a significant role in the perception of pain, even discredited therapies can be slightly effective in treating injuries like Vonn's, where pain is the primary factor preventing peak performance.

We're loath to judge, considering that milk, honey, cereal poultices, and live maggots still pass for modern wound care in certain corners of the world. And there's no arguing with Vonn's success in the downhill.

Super Bowl XLIV: Saints, Colts Stars Betting On HBOT

Both teams in tomorrow's Super Bowl have a lot riding on the success of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Besides a pretty nifty ring, one winner may also claim the title of HBOT Poster Boy.

Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney is using HBOT to speed healing of a swollen right ankle. This week ESPN blogger Paul Kuharsky (photo right) posted a fun story about his own chamber experience after sampling Freeney's treatment protocol.

New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper actually sleeps in a portable chamber, not to rehabilitate from any injury but to supplement his strict diet and fitness regimen. He's only too happy to tell you all about it on YouTube (video below).




Once again we're full of questions about the efficacy of HBOT for speed-healing and the rightful place of mild (mHBOT) portable chambers and personal hyperbarics in this rapidly growing field of medicine. It'll be fun trying to catch up to all the professional athletes who swear by it.