[Hyperbaric oxygenation. An area for the anesthetist?]

Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) therapy is a kind of medical treatment in which a patient breathes 100% of oxygen inside a pressure chamber while the pressure of the chamber is increased to a point higher than sea level pressure. It is strongly based on clearly defined physical laws and physiological regularities. For the clinical use of HBO therapy, according to international recommendations, there are several commonly accepted indications in which HBO either is the only causative life-saving kind of treatment, or is an essential and oftenly decisive component of a comprehensive interdisciplinary intensive care therapy. Among potential adverse effects, barotrauma of the lungs and especially oxygen toxicity to the central nervous system have to be mentioned. Clinical use of HBO therefore requires special knowledge of its effects, risks, and adverse effects, a clear and distinct indication, and the ability and skills to keep complications under control by means of intensive care or emergency medical measures. The clinical use of hyperbaric oxygen with its interdisciplinary-like character of emergency medicine or intensive care therapy therefore should be an additional, most interesting field of activity for the anaesthesiologist.