Urology

Do you have patients with unresolved cystitis, proctitis or vaginitis?
When: While it is RARE probably only effecting about 5% of your patients, here are some of the areas that one of your more complicated patients would be benefited:
  • There is an 83% success rate, leading to either complete resolution or marked improvement reporting stopping hematuria.
  • Healing effects to bladder including radiation cystitis with or without bleeding.
  • Healing effects to rectum following treatment of prostrate and proctitis.
Why: In a small number of cases there may be collateral damage from radiation to healthy tissue leading to a lower vascular density and thus an area of a non-healing wound. HBOT delivers O2 to avascular tissue such as bone helping kill anaerobic bacteria, reduce inflammation and increase cellular function and cellular energy.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy artificially elevates tissue oxygen tension in wounds that are hypoxic and or ischemic (damage from the radiation); and stimulates new capillary formation, re-establishing the circulation. As you know the oxygen in red blood cells are already bound 98% to hemoglobin. Each red blood cell’s plasma is only 3-5% saturated with oxygen. Hyperbaric oxygen works by simple gas diffusion- Oxygen dissolves into all of the body’s fluids, including the plasma, the Lymph, the cerebrospinal fluids surrounding the brain, spinal cord, and even bone at levels to increase the oxygenation of the plasma by 14-30 times.
We do ALL of the work of prior authorizations for your patients! Criteria to meet to allow for insurance payment or reimbursement:
  • The “prophylactic use” of HBOT to prevent osteomyelitis is 30/10...
  • Osteomyelitis: Need 6 weeks of failed antibiotics, and radiographic evidence of the osteomyelitis.
  • Soft Tissue Radio Necrosis: 6 weeks of failed antibiotics.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5462140/

Results

All patients completed therapy without complications with a mean follow-up of 29.33 months. Median number of sessions needed was 33. Complete and partial response rate was 86.8% and 13.2%, respectively. All 33 patients with complete response received therapy within 6 months of the haematuria onset. One patient needed cystectomy, while 33 patients were alive at the end of follow-up.

Conclusions

Our study suggests the early primary use of hyperbaric oxygen for radiation-induced severe cystitis as an effective and safe treatment option.