The risks associated are minimal if it is
properly applied. As with any drug therapy, there are occasions where unanticipated
reactions occur, but these are rare. Thousands of animals have been
successfully treated with this therapy. Oxygen toxicity and barotrauma are two
effects of administering oxygen under pressure that are continuously monitored
for during therapy. The incidence of these effects is minimized by proper
dosing, frequency, and duration of pressure and oxygen and proper compression
and decompression procedures.
Haim Bitterman, MD, of
Technion Israel Institute of Technology, noted that the most common patient
complaint is middle ear discomfort resulting from the elevated pressure.
Other problems, such as
changes in vision, lung damage and edema (fluid swelling), and seizures, were
less common and usually went away when treatment stopped.
The most serious
potential side effect is oxygen toxicity. While long more than five hours exposures to hyperbaric
oxygen treatment are usually required to induce oxygen poisoning, University of
Pennsylvania researchers noted a wide range of tolerance levels in humans.
The other major organ
system oxygen poisoning can affect is the central nervous system. Signs ranging
from dizziness and nausea to seizures might arise without warning but are
usually seen if exposed to pressures of 2 atmospheres for 4+
hours or 3 atmospheres for 3+ hours (Lambertsen CJ, Clark JM, Gelfand R, et al,
1987).
In the treatment for horses, the standard treatment time is 60 - 90 minutes at 2 atmospheric pressures at which horses do not exhibit any side effects.
For this reason, HBOT is not
recommend HBOT for horses with any condition (e.g., a fever) that would lower
the animal's threshold for developing seizures. This also is one of the reasons
operators, as a standard procedure check each horse's temperature immediately
prior to placing him in the chamber.
While mandated safety
guidelines have not been established for HBOT in horses, most technicians treat
horses in accordance with recommendations for humans. In particular, that after treating several hundred
horses, it is believed that HBOT in the range of 2 to 3 atmospheres of pressure
can be used as safely in horses as it is in humans.
According to the Veterinary Hyperbaric Medicine Society (VHMS) position statement, the
use of HBOT has the potential to accelerate the normal healing process and thus
the potential to enhance the health and welfare of the horse.
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