Chamber helps wounds heal

Dr. Brentley Buchele, director of the new Wound, Ostomy & Hyperbaric Center, called Rob Giles an exemplary patient and a perfect fit for Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s hyperbaric chamber.

Giles came to the center to bump up his healing capacity in preparation for dental surgery.

“We are trying to proactively make his blood supply better,” Buchele said. “He’s done very nicely.”

Giles’ mandible (jaw) radiation damage is one of the 16 conditions shown to respond to hyperbaric oxygen therapy — the medical use of oxygen at levels higher than atmospheric pressure.

In the first phase, the wound-care center offers hyperbaric chamber treatments for soft tissue damaged by radiation and for slow-healing wounds, such as those dealt with by diabetics. In the future, with expanded staffing, it has applications for emergency care.

Designed as a pressure vessel, the chamber looks like a large acrylic tube with a bank-vault-like air lock on one end. During carefully timed cycles, the patient reposes inside, breathing close to 100 percent oxygen to increase the percentage in tissues and blood plasma.

“Hyperbaric oxygen therapy encourages blood vessels to grow in poorly vascularized tissue,” Buchele said. “Normal tissue stays normal and injured tissue gets better.”

Many claims have been made that hyperbaric chambers can cure conditions such as multiple sclerosis, autism and cerebral palsy, and even wrinkles and hangovers. Buchele said this center will only accept patients with conditions for which science shows a proven benefit.

“We’re not going to build false hope,” he said.

To receive hyperbaric treatments, patients need a physician referral. At the center, the chamber process begins with Buchele and nurse Sheryl Frasier checking the patient’s vital signs and the tympanic membranes in the ears prior to setting the Sechrist 3600 E hyperbaric chamber to the proper pressure.

Inside the chamber, the patient wears a cotton gown and a bracelet attached to the machine’s metal for grounding to guard against sparks. Buchele tried out the chamber when it first arrived so he could understand the patient’s perspective.

He described it as a little stuffy and dry during the hour-and-a-half to two-hour procedure but otherwise comfortable.

“It did help my wrinkles and hangover,” he said with a laugh.