HBOT For Bone Fracture: Fundamental Mechanisms

Out of Taiwan comes a new study with new insights into precisely how hyperbaric oxygen helps fractured bones heal. Scientists observed in vitro cultures of specialized bone-producing cells, called osteoblasts, under normal conditions and with hyperbaric oxygen. They found that "the proliferative effects of hyperbaric [oxygen] on osteoblasts may contribute to the recruitment of osteoblasts at the fracture site."

HBOT has long been used to treat broken bones associated with crush injuries, compartment syndrome, and other traumatic ischemias. Many hyperbaric physicians and patients claim HBOT accelerates the healing process. This primary research may support such claims by describing how hyperbaric oxygen stimulates the fundamental mechanisms of bone production.

A quick Google Scholar search shows nearly 7,000 articles on "hyperbaric AND fracture." Surely the next 7,000 will cite this study. And so will we, in a Bone Fractures page, coming soon to the HyperbaricLink Diseases and Conditions section.

HBOT Holds Hope For Haitian Violinist's Hand

Blind violinist Romel Joseph somehow survived the quake that killed his pregnant wife and destroyed his Port-au-Prince music school, and hyperbaric physicians at Jackson Memorial in Miami are still working to save his gifted left hand. We first met Joseph in Katie Couric's interview, following, from late January. Stevie Wonder has since visited, and we were pleased to get another progress report in Sunday's Washington Post. The story gives the seismic tragedy in Haiti a face and a soundtrack like no other. And we can only hope for a Hollywood ending in the fullness of time.

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.