Portable Hyperbaric Chambers

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Just beginning to do some research on what might be the best equipment to have onboard in the event of an emergency when you are 16+ hours away from any medical facilities. Though many of the portable hyperbaric chambers on the market seem to target home users, would this be a feasible solution? Or would it be too risky to use without a doctor's supervision? Would oxygen concentrators or generators be a better choice without a doctor onboard?

Would appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I thought that portable hyperbaric chambers maxed out at 1.3-1.5 ata of pressure. AFAIK, that's not enough to conduct USN Table VI treatment, which requires intermittent compression to 60 fsw = approx. 3 ata. Maybe companies have come out with something new recently?

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello:

An oxygen concentrator is very valuable. Mask oxygen is an advantage. A hyperbaric chamber is of very limited use and the sick patient is very isolated.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[Bubbletrubble]

A hyperbaric chamber is of very limited use and the sick patient is very isolated.

This is an excellent point. The chamber would need to be large enough for someone else to be inside with the patient. What happens if the patient begins to ox-tox? And that's not all...there are a lot of other bad things that could happen to the patient related to injuries sustained during the dive incident.

Still, I'd say that a topside hyperbaric chamber is preferable to in-water recompression.

One thing to keep in mind is that you'd have to rule out any absolute contraindications to hyperbaric therapy, namely pneumothorax. To do this, you'll need a portable x-ray machine and the medical expertise to read those x-rays. If a pneumothorax exists, then surgical intervention is required prior to hyperbaric treatment. Yeah, you would probably need a medical professional on-board.

 

[Kevrumbo]

SOS Hyperlite Hyperbaric Stretcher

USCG out here in SoCal were evaluating, training & practicing with the above unit; along with the crew at the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber on receiving & transferring a patient inside the portable unit to the main chamber. . .

 

[Bubbletrubble]

@Kevrumbo: Thanks for bringing the SOS Hyperlite to our attention. Wow! That thing is incredible. The product weighs 110 lbs. and has a max operating "depth" of 76 fsw. Amazing. I wonder how much it costs.

 

[mike_s]

I wonder how much it costs.

according to the below PDF, $35,000 <----- EDIT: needed those three zeros'


http://www.hbomedtoday.com/HMT_1/spread.PDF



This page says 22,000 pounds. (you can convert currency if you want). I list this one because it also lists the accessories.

http://www.uscg.mil/FOIA/healy/Number 101-218/num_160.pdf

 

[Bubbletrubble]

according to the below PDF, $35

Hey, Mike. Thanks for tracking down this info. I think you forgot a few zeroes.
$35,000 seems like a pretty fair price for what that thing does.
I can definitely see the various applications for this device. Pretty amazing...

 

[DCBC]

It appears to be a cost-effective solution. Thanks for posting this.

 

[mike_s]

Hey, Mike. Thanks for tracking down this info. I think you forgot a few zeroes.

jeez... that's what the IRS told me also.... ( )

$35,000 seems like a pretty fair price for what that thing does.
I can definitely see the various applications for this device. Pretty amazing...

It seems like a fair price. Too bad that it's not a little more economical that liveaboards, etc could use them. But then again most of the people on them don't have any medical training and not really sure I'd trust your average liveaboard crew member to run one. medical evac is prob the proper choice in a lot of cases.

However, I can definitely see for research vessels, etc where they are willing to put someone through the training program perhaps.

I'd like to point out what Dr Deco said above about the patient being isolated. hard to check patients vitals while in this chamber. but I guess the theory is that being in the chamber in the event of an issue is better than being out of it and dead. I don't know. I just don't have ANY experience in chambers to be able to make a viable recomendation/guidance on such issues.


one more thing... couple years ago reading an article about Tiger Woods yacht. He's got a portable decompression chamber on it according to the article. (just an interesting tid-bit).