[Hyperbaric Oxygenation - utility in intensive therapy - part 1].

Hyperbaric Oxygenation (HBO) is a medical treatment, in which a patient breathes 100 % oxygen inside a treatment chamber at a pressure higher than at sea level. The indication for HBO has to be considered whenever gas bubbles present in tissue or blood circulation (decompression sickness, gas embolism) or when a high oxygen delivery is of crucial importance (CO-intoxication, selected anaerobic soft tissue infections). HBO must never be considered as a substitute for conventional surgical or intensive care therapy, but as an adjuvant of (potentially) crucial importance.