The role of hyperbaric oxygen in craniosynostosis

  At atmospheric pressure, the oxygen supply to human tissues is transmitted by the red blood cells in the blood. After combining with oxygen, hemoglobin eventually reaches the capillaries with the blood flow. The capillaries are very thin, allowing only a single red blood cell to pass through. As the red blood cells pass through the capillaries, they narrow, thin, elongate, and arrange themselves in a linear fashion, releasing oxygen molecules through the microcirculation to the body’s tissues, combining with carbon dioxide and returning from the venous vessels.  In the case of injury to the body, the tissue vessels are damaged, resulting in impaired microcirculation, and the red blood cells are unable to supply oxygen to the tissues through the capillaries in the damaged area. Under hyperbaric conditions, oxygen delivery to the body is fundamentally changed. At three atmospheres of hyperbaric oxygen, the oxygen dissolved in the blood in its physical state alone is sufficient to maintain the basic needs of human life.  Two atmospheres are usually used for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, when the physical dissolved oxygen is 14 times higher than at atmospheric pressure, and where the liquid can reach, the oxygen dissolved in the liquid can also reach. As Edward Taylor, the famous American physicist and the father of the American hydrogen bomb, said, “Hyperbaric oxygen can rapidly supply physical dissolved oxygen to the oxygen-deficient tissues without consuming energy, and improve the oxygen-deficient state of the body tissues.” This feature of hyperbaric oxygen cannot be achieved by any other method under normal pressure.  In the case of brain tissue injury, the microcirculation of the brain is impaired, causing hypoxia and edema in the brain tissue of the injured area, which produces compression of the surrounding tissues, further deteriorating the circulation and further aggravating hypoxia. This vicious cycle chain is the mechanism of brain edema formation in patients after traumatic brain injury. How to cut off this case process is the key to rescuing patients with craniocerebral injury. Hyperbaric oxygen can quickly cut off this vicious process through its own characteristics, rapidly improve the state of brain hypoxia, gradually eliminate brain edema, and promote brain cell recovery and recovery of brain tissue function.