SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
From Louisiana to Long Island, hyperbaric chambers, once used only to treat divers suffering from the bends, are increasingly being used to treat COVID-19 patients with surprising success.
While the numbers are small, doctors at more than a dozen hospitals across the country say hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is saving the lives of even the most critically ill coronavirus patients.
"The results thus far are pretty impressive," Dr. Thomas Serena, founder and director of the SerenaGroup, a family of wound, hyperbaric and research companies, said in a recent interview.
At NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, New York, Dr. Scott Gorenstein, the director of hyperbaric medicine, said, "I'm encouraged that hyperbaric oxygen could be a benefit."
[...] Their study compared 20 COVID-19 patients who received HBOT to 60 similar patients who did not. While their study is being peer-reviewed and has yet to be published, the results they shared are stunning.
Of the 60 patients who did NOT receive HBOT, half of them needed to be placed on ventilators and 13 died. That's a mortality rate of 22%. At the same time, the 20 patients who did receive HBOT, only two needed to be placed on ventilators and both died, which is a much lower mortality rate of 10%.
"It's small numbers," Dr. Lee noted in a cautious tone but added, "The findings suggest that hyperbaric oxygen could reduce the mortality of this disease by half."
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 27 2020, @12:21PM (9 children)
Side effects [hopkinsmedicine.org]
Supplementary, no DOI in TFA.
Picture me not convinced (yet).
PS ah, yes. Remember to not build any electrostatic charge while inside HBOT chamber; in spite of the amount of water, burning the human body is overall exothermic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 27 2020, @12:51PM (3 children)
More to the point: don't go putting yourself in a more-dangerous-than-Apollo-1 oxygen environment managed by a low budget operation with under-trained operators, it can go very poorly, it has gone very poorly, but high numbers of people have also done it quite safely.
As always, it's a question of cost/risk vs benefit. Both sides are somewhat fuzzy on their definitions and data - science and statistics are not yet ready to guide the decision to HBOT or not.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2020, @01:13PM (2 children)
So... Don't smoke a cigarette while oxybathing?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2020, @05:48PM (1 child)
in Soviet Russia hyperbaric chamber, cigarette smokes you!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday July 28 2020, @03:30PM
Would have been funnier without the word cigarette.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 27 2020, @03:11PM (4 children)
Alrighty. Having a diver's license (PADI sport diving, open water) exposes a person to the concept of partial pressures of gases. You become aware that normal atmosphere under pressure can burn your lungs out, if you're diving deep. That's why they have special gas mixtures for the deep sea divers - which I am not.
Anyway, you made me look around some.
The Mayo Clinic says that HBOT is routinely conducted at 3 atmos. That burning of the lungs, etc, is not even a concern.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy/about/pac-20394380 [mayoclinic.org]
I'd have to do some more searching to determine at what pressure said burning becomes a real concern - at least 6 atmos, I think, probably 10 or more. And, I'm quite certain that the techs operating these hypobaric chambers are well versed in partial pressures, and will control the oxygen content to get the desired effects.
I don't think you need to worry that Grandma might come out of the chamber crispy fried because of a random static discharge. ;^)
Final thought: Don't you think they would take precautions to prevent possible static discharge if they were to jack the pressure up to 20 atmospheres or more?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 27 2020, @04:33PM (3 children)
Because the only way grandma can catch fire is by her lungs starting to burn, right?
Since you're allegedly so knowledgeable in things pertaining Navy here's an article in Undersea Hyper Med 1997 [uhms.org]. Note the 1975/CA "Suspected electrostatic charge when diver separated wood and synthetic sweaters" on page 2.
Ummm...
A grandma and her grandsun burning for 5 minutes due to electrostatic discharge inside HBO in 3atm or less of oxygen [sun-sentinel.com]. So, one more thought from you if you don't mind: what d'you reckon, since grandmas are safe until 20 atmospheres or more, perhaps it was the grand son that was the source of ignition? Because surely they took all the other precautions, no?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 27 2020, @05:31PM (2 children)
The Sun Sentinel article is unreliable as all hell, starting with
No pure oxygen in a pressure chamber - it's some kind of a mixed atmosphere. As bad as the article starts out, it does go on to cite a number of safety violations, such as the chambers not being grounded, faulty electrical work in and around the chambers, lack of maintenance records - and much more. Sensationalist reporting, on a crazy substandard facility.
The PDF is very informative. It puts the lie to the above claim of a pure oxygen atmosphere, early on.
I'm having problems copying text from the PDF, but the introduction is relevant here: Chamber fires before 1980 were caused by electrical shorts, and since 1980, fires caused by prohibited sources of ignition carried into the chamber. That same introduction goes on to distinguish between oxygen enriched atmospheres >= 28% and normal atmospheres, 23.5% oxygen.
I can see that I should have put a "properly maintained and operated facility" somewhere in my earlier statement. I will do so here:
In a properly maintained and operated modern (less than 30 years old) facility, Grandma has just about zero chance of causing a fire with static electricity. Far more likely that she starts a fire by sneaking in a cigarette and a lighter.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 27 2020, @06:20PM (1 child)
Pick whatever other sources of info you trust [google.com] the accident happened. By criminal negligence. Perhaps you trust the health news Florida [usf.edu]?
Under critical level of use and under the operations of an overworked personnel? For how long you reckon they'll stay "properly maintained and operated"? I won't bet for longer that a couple of months.
---
I admit this looks a better, cheaper and safer approach [soylentnews.org] to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2020, @08:34PM
We get it, we get it. You have a mortal fear of probabilities. Just sign the damn do-not-store-hyperbaric form, file it next to your do-not-resuscitate form and let the adults have a normal conversation.