Centre for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Diving Medicine, Aachen

The Centre for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Diving Medicine in Aachen is widely known both in Germany and in the neighbouring countries — Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France. Its patients also come from the post-Soviet countries and the Middle East. A pressure chamber is usually associated with the treatment and prevention of acute and chronic conditions in divers, pilots, mountaineers and the like. For many years, however, pressure chambers have been used to treat a very wide range of diseases, cardiac conditions among them. The treatment harnesses the healing effect of a gas mixture, or of pure medical oxygen, fed into the chamber under elevated pressure (hyperbaric oxygenation). While the patient is inside the chamber, the oxygen content in the body tissues (hyperbaric oxygenation) is 20 times higher than the normal level. Treatment is given both in single-place and in multi-place chambers. Visually, the interiors of both types resemble an aircraft cabin.

The branch of medicine that applies and studies the possibilities of hyperbaric oxygen therapy is called hyperbaric medicine («bar» — a unit of pressure equal to one atmosphere), and the method itself is known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (pressure-chamber therapy, oxygen therapy, hyperbaric oxygenation).

In the pressure chamber, the medical oxygen inhaled through a mask triggers the regeneration of damaged tissues and their receptors and thereby speeds up healing. In addition, it accelerates the renewal of blood cells after radiation damage, the formation of bone tissue, the resorption of cavity oedema (intraosseous and intracranial) and the reduction of intracranial pressure.

Hyperbaric oxygenation is used most widely in the treatment of chronic wounds and in cases where the oxygen supply to particular organs and tissues is impaired.

Hyperbaric oxygenation is therefore an effective and gentle alternative treatment that complements and enhances the main therapy for patients in whom other conservative methods have proved to be of little benefit. Pressure-chamber therapy is tailored strictly to each individual patient.

History and the present day

The Centre for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Diving Medicine in Aachen (HBO-Zentrum Euregio Aachen) was founded in July 1996. Various clinical centres of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion took part in its creation and work, among them the university hospitals of Aachen and Maastricht. Since then, more than 42,000 patients have been treated at the Centre.

Treatment at the Centre is provided on both an outpatient and an inpatient basis. Everything needed for intensive medical care of severely ill patients is in place.

The philosophy of the Centre for Hyperbaric Oxygenation in Aachen is built on patient safety and comfort. The treatment of every patient is supervised by a physician specialising in hyperbaric medicine, together with specially trained nursing staff.

Depending on the type and severity of the disease, a course of treatment comprises between 10 and 30 sessions. Treatment is provided six days a week, and around the clock in emergencies.
Expertise and medical standards

Medical standards for the therapeutic use of hyperbaric oxygenation have been developed in cooperation with European and international professional associations and with the German Society for Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine. These set the permissible time for breathing pure medical oxygen and the therapeutic pressure levels inside the chamber, as well as the required qualifications of the staff and the therapeutically justified breaks in treatment.

The oxygen therapy centre in Aachen is a co-founder of the German Association of Pressure Chamber Centres (Verband Deutscher Druckkammerzentren); its work meets the highest standards of quality and safety and is confirmed by a range of quality certificates.

Preparation for and course of treatment in the pressure chamber

The number of pressure-chamber sessions is calculated and adjusted individually during the treatment and ranges from 10 to 30 sessions.
Before oxygen therapy begins, every patient undergoes a thorough assessment of individual risk factors, tolerance and indications for hyperbaric oxygenation, as well as a detailed briefing. During the procedure, which lasts from 10 to 120 minutes, patients inside the chamber are monitored continuously by video, and should complications or other emergencies arise, action is taken immediately to resolve them. While in the chamber, a patient may read, write or listen to the radio or music through headphones. Mobile phones, tablets and laptops are not permitted inside the chamber. Through an oxygen mask, each patient receives an individually selected amount of medical oxygen.

At the start of each session the pressure inside the chamber is raised slowly. During this «compression» phase the patient breathes ordinary air; once the pressure has equalised and the required therapeutic pressure has been reached, the patient puts on the oxygen mask. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy begins at that point: patients breathe pure oxygen, with short breaks. This is the so-called «isopression» phase, during which the body immediately begins to process the highly concentrated oxygen.
At the end of the session, during the «decompression» phase, the air pressure is gradually reduced to normal; after a pause for breathing ordinary air, patients leave the chamber.
Hyperbaric oxygenation: fields of application

Hyperbaric oxygenation is used successfully in both acute and chronic conditions associated with a lack of oxygen.