Commonly Treated
Conditions explained:
Equine HBOT is one of the most powerful
tools available as an adjunctive form of therapy, and in some cases it works
well as the primary therapy in horses.
Colic and laminitis are the number one and
two killers, respectively, of horses, and oxygen therapy (in conjunction with
other therapies) can be very useful in treating both
• Colic:
Equine HBOT helps restore blood flow to tissues after colic surgery. It also
reduces obstructive swelling in the intestinal tissue and improves oxygenation
of the resection (after abdominal surgery to correct colon torsion, small
intestine strangulation, etc.) It’s been found that many colic cases respond
much better to surgery when treated with HBOT before and after surgery.
• Laminitis & Navicular Syndrome:
Equine HBOT can arrest laminitis in the early stages. If you can treat the
horse before the structures in the foot collapse (before there is crushing of
the blood vessels), it is very effective.
• Infections:
Equine HBOT increases blood flow to the infection site, which increases the
amount of antibiotic delivery. The extra oxygen also increases the
effectiveness of the antibiotic, magnifying the way it works against bacteria.
High-dose oxygen tends to potentiate the effect of some antibiotics, such
as sulfamethoxazole (SMZ). You are also getting 15 times the amount of oxygen
to a tissue that was lacking oxygen due to infection of poor circulation.
Oxygen also stimulates faster cell turnover and thus faster healing.
Certain antibiotics such as gentocin and
amikacin don’t work well in low-oxygen environments. Oxygen therapy enhances
their function and gives a whole combination of benefits. HBOT is an adjunctive
therapy; you still use antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs and other
treatments. It’s a component process in which everything is working
together.
* Oxygen acts to kill bacteria.
Most bacteria causing serious infection are anaerobic—working best in an
environment without oxygen. At pressure, with oxygen at a higher level, it is
also detrimental to aerobic bacteria. Extra oxygen also helps white blood cells
function better to kill the organisms.
• Abscesses:
Internal abscesses (such as in the lungs or the abdomen) are sometimes not
diagnosed early. By the time they are diagnosed, there is a thick-walled
capsule of connective tissue around them that keeps antibiotics from reaching
the site. This results in prolonged antibiotic treatment (often with no
resolution of the abscess) at high cost to the owner, and potentially fatal
consequences for the horse. HBOT helps the antibiotic get to the site and
enhances its ability to fight the infection.
• Septicemia and Joint Ill in Foals:
Major clinics have evaluated Equine HBOT for treating foals with septic joints.
In 2002, all the foals which came into the clinic with septic joints went
through a standard protocol using systemic antibiotics, lavage to flush the
joints with antibiotics, etc. After 30 to 90 days of treatments, they took the
foals which were hopeless (which would ordinarily be euthanized) and moved them
to a test group. They continued to use their standard treatments, but combined
them with HBOT. They had a 60% recovery rate in foals which were going to be
put down.
• Soft Tissue Injuries:
Many injuries result in inflammation and swelling. Studies have shown that soft
tissue injuries treated with Equine HBOT recover in half the time. New blood
vessels form more quickly, improving blood supply to injured areas, and there
is swift reduction in edema (swelling). Since oxygen is normally carried by red
blood cells, any tissues with a compromised blood supply suffer from poor
healing. But with HBOT, oxygen is forced into all body fluids and delivered to
areas with restricted circulation.
* Injured tendons and ligaments respond well to treatment:
Equine HBOT can be useful in dealing with bowed tendons, surgical repair of
tendon or ligament injuries, etc. Surgical traumas (incisions) also heal faster
with HBOT, as do large surface wounds and pressure sores. It decreases tissue
swelling and helpssalvage damaged tissues in traumatic injury. In chronic
wounds, it assists growth of new skin and stimulates collagen production.
• Reproductive Problems:
A prominent DVM wrote an article three years ago and described how he’d treated
some older stallions for laminitis and noticed an increase in fertility. After
reading that, Winstar (the first thoroughbred farm in Kentucky to have an HBOT
chamber) treated their stallion
A stallion’s covers in the breeding shed
had declined, but after HBOT treatments his libido increased (along with his
sperm count), and the morphology (cell structure) of his semen was much
improved.
HBOT has also worked
well for mares they hadn’t been able to get in foal.
Four out of five mares were treated one year, that had been bred on multiple
covers. They were put in the HBOT chamber and got into foal the next time they
cycled. And the integrity of the uterine lining was probably enhanced.
A rehab clinic in the US has also treated mares that were unable to concieve.
One mare went to the breeding shed 16 times in two years without becoming
pregnant. After three treatments in the HBOT chamber, she was bred, and had a
live, healthy foal.
• Dummy Foals and Other Neurological Problems:
Used on dummy foals, it reduces edema. The oxygen in a pressure chamber has the
ability to penetrate the cerebrospinal fluid. Head and spinal trauma often
create neurological damage, thought to result from swelling of these tissues
within a confined space, loss of blood and oxygen supply, and the sequential
effects of these factors on nervous tissue. HBOT reduces the swelling and increases
the blood supply.
Hyperbaric
oxygen therapy is also potentially beneficial for athletic and non-athletic
injuries or ailments, including:
· Improved rate and degree of
recovery in equine athletes
· Improved well-being and
demeanor
· Desmitis (ligament disease)
· Tendonitis (bowed or
diseased tendons)
· Fractures
· Exercise-induced pulmonary
hemorrhaging (Bleeders)
· Acute laminitis (Founder)
· Reperfusion diseases
(severe muscle damage, crush injuries)
· Colic (intestinal
obstruction, colonic torsions, volvulus, etc.)
· Enteritis and endotoxemia
· Ileus (loss of intestinal
motility)
· Infertility (mare and
stallion)
· Rhodococcus pneumonia in
foals
· Lyme disease
· Osteomyelitis (bone
infection)
· Compromised wounds
· Myositis (tying up)
· Septic arthritis (joint
infections)
· Neurologic disease
· Severe necrosis (e.g. snake
and spider bites, toxic substances, etc.)
· Neonatal maladjustment
syndrome
· Lung and abdominal
abscesses
· Gastric ulcer healing.
Prevention of ischemia reperfusion injury post colon torsion
· Any intestinal ischemic
injury
· Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.
·
Post-race or post
performance recovery