Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)

Published on: October 20, 2011

New Information on True Causes of Death from Smoke Inhalation: Hydrogen Cyanide Poisoning

On October 6, 2011, the Fire Smoke Coalition launched the first Smoke Inhalation Treatment Database for use by EMTs, first responders and medical professionals throughout the world.

In the United States, residential fires are the third leading cause of fatal injury and the fifth most common cause of unintentional injury death, yet the majority of fire-related fatalities are NOT caused by severe burns–they are cause by smoke inhalation.

Despite the amount of fires in the U.S. decreasing each year, the amount of civilians dying in fires is actually increasing. For example, in 2009, 1,348,500 fires were attended by public fire departments, a decrease of 7.1 percent from the year before; however, 3,010 civilian fire deaths occurred, which is an increase of 9.3 percent.

Continue reading →

Published on: October 4, 2011

Smoke Detectors Save Lives, but Too Many Homes Don’t Have Them

By Larry Kramer

In late September in the small town of Greenville, NC, a popular local restaurant owner died during a fire inside his house in the middle of the night. The man’s two dogs also died in the fire. Unfortunately, it does not seem that this incident had to end up this way–smoke detectors just might have saved the man’s life.

Derek Oliviero was just 27 years old–young enough to be able to run from the house and avoid severe burns if he had become aware of the fire. But he died of smoke inhalation when his home stared burning because a faulty electrical outlet in the kitchen malfunctioned while he was asleep. Firefighter found the man in the house around 3 a.m. but he was unresponsive. They tried to revive him, but their efforts failed.

Neighbors witnessed the incident. “It took a long time to get him out of the house. It was really scary,” said one of them.

Continue reading →

Published on: April 12, 2010

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)

By Larry Kramer

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a non invasive mode of medical treatment in which the patient is entirely enclosed in a pressure chamber filled with oxygen at a pressure greater than one atmosphere.

It is a painless procedure that can be carried out in either in a monoplace chamber where only one patient is in the chamber, or a multiplace chamber where the patient along with someone else are inside the chamber. The chamber is pressurized with 100% pure oxygen.

Topical hyperbaric oxygen therapy technique includes delivering 100% oxygen directly to an open, moist wound at a pressure slightly higher than atmospheric pressure through special devices. The patients may be trained and can use these devices at home.

Continue reading →