Oxygen for Cancer Treatment?

Hyperbaric chambers are often thought of as treatments for lung diseases or as a way to heal after high pressure diving accidents. Those are still conditions for which patients can be placed in a hyperbaric chamber, but one hospital in Australia is using the therapy for more than just that. The 100% pure oxygen has more uses than some might realize.

Cancer patients can often suffer muscle deterioration and tissue damage as a result of chemotherapy and radiation. In Brisbane, cancer patients spend time in a hyperbaric chamber receiving pure oxygen, sometimes for as much as 7 hours at a time to combat the side effects from cancer treatment. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, or HBOT, cannot combat the cancer itself, but can get directly to damaged to tissues, healing them and giving patients a better quality of life.