**7. Current status of HBOT**

HBOT was called the Cinderella of modern medicine since it was not taught in medical schools and had no pharmaceutical companies to nurture and protect it. Over the course of time, it has shed the label of being a mysterious therapy and become a major tool in the armamentarium of clinicians either as a primary or adjunctive therapy for a spectrum of diseases. Stroke, cancer, heart disease, and chronic lung disease account for almost 60% of the total number of deaths. Hypoxia is a significant component of the pathology of these conditions, and this leads to metabolic acidosis, organ dysfunction, and death. Conventional oxygen therapy may not have desired results, when HBOT yields remarkable clinical improvement. HBOT prevents 75 percent of all major amputations that would otherwise be necessary for diabetic wounds and a 450% increase in complete recovery in patients with traumatic brain injury receiving HBOT vs. standard intensive care. Newer application of HBOT is in emergency care for resuscitation in cases of acute blood loss, near drowning, hanging and poisoning, and cardiorespiratory arrest.

Athletic associations like the NFL employ hyperbaric oxygen therapy as part of the recovery regimen for its athletes, and some players own their own HBOT chambers. Joe Namath experienced remarkable recovery from the head injuries he sustained during his career, leading him to be part of an FDA-approved study of HBOT at the Joe Namath Neurological Center of the Jupiter Medical Center in Florida. Ace swimmer Michael Phelps and football stars Maurice Jones-Drew and James Harrison have endorsed the benefits of HBOT, along with professional boxers like Evander Holyfield [41].

### **8. Conclusions**

With the utilization of isotopic tracers, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), HBOT is getting evidence-based recognition. Various conditions like brain injuries, stroke, and neurological diseases with poor prognosis are now amenable to improved outcomes with the application of HBOT. There are more than 500 hyperbaric facilities

**79**

**Author details**

Chandrasekhar Krishnamurti

Andhra Pradesh, India

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: globeshaker@gmail.com

*Historical Aspects of Hyperbaric Physiology and Medicine*

in the USA alone. Much research remains to be done regarding the efficacy of HBO2 therapy to develop treatment plans for those in extremes of age. The use of hyperbaric medicine to treat wounds in the foot or in the brain is a divine gift, and great advances in this field are on the horizon. The future of healthcare is here!

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85216*

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

Department of Anesthesiology, NRI Institute of Medical Sciences, Visakhapatnam,

*Historical Aspects of Hyperbaric Physiology and Medicine DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85216*

*Respiratory Physiology*

**7. Current status of HBOT**

*Greensboro, North Carolina, USA).*

**Figure 18.**

cardiorespiratory arrest.

like Evander Holyfield [41].

**8. Conclusions**

HBOT was called the Cinderella of modern medicine since it was not taught in medical schools and had no pharmaceutical companies to nurture and protect it. Over the course of time, it has shed the label of being a mysterious therapy and become a major tool in the armamentarium of clinicians either as a primary or adjunctive therapy for a spectrum of diseases. Stroke, cancer, heart disease, and chronic lung disease account for almost 60% of the total number of deaths. Hypoxia is a significant component of the pathology of these conditions, and this leads to metabolic acidosis, organ dysfunction, and death. Conventional oxygen therapy may not have desired results, when HBOT yields remarkable clinical improvement. HBOT prevents 75 percent of all major amputations that would otherwise be necessary for diabetic wounds and a 450% increase in complete recovery in patients with traumatic brain injury receiving HBOT vs. standard intensive care. Newer application of HBOT is in emergency care for resuscitation

*Hyperbaric operation suite. (Image courtesy: CONE Health Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center,* 

in cases of acute blood loss, near drowning, hanging and poisoning, and

Athletic associations like the NFL employ hyperbaric oxygen therapy as part of the recovery regimen for its athletes, and some players own their own HBOT chambers. Joe Namath experienced remarkable recovery from the head injuries he sustained during his career, leading him to be part of an FDA-approved study of HBOT at the Joe Namath Neurological Center of the Jupiter Medical Center in Florida. Ace swimmer Michael Phelps and football stars Maurice Jones-Drew and James Harrison have endorsed the benefits of HBOT, along with professional boxers

With the utilization of isotopic tracers, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), HBOT is getting evidence-based recognition. Various conditions like brain injuries, stroke, and neurological diseases with poor prognosis are now amenable to improved outcomes with the application of HBOT. There are more than 500 hyperbaric facilities

**78**

in the USA alone. Much research remains to be done regarding the efficacy of HBO2 therapy to develop treatment plans for those in extremes of age. The use of hyperbaric medicine to treat wounds in the foot or in the brain is a divine gift, and great advances in this field are on the horizon. The future of healthcare is here!
