What Happens in a Hyperbaric Chamber?

Mar. 15, 2025

Stock image of a man inside a hyperbaric chamber.Photo:Getty

Getty

A boy died on Jan. 31 when thehyperbaric chamber he was inexploded. Thomas Cooper, 5, had beenreportedly getting treatmentfor several medical conditions at The Oxford Center in Troy, Mich.

A hyperbaric chamber is a contained, highly pressurized space that increases the delivery of 100% oxygen to the body. It can be a room or a chamber that fits just one person. As the patient relaxes and breathes, the lungs — and therefore, the body’s tissues — receive up to three times the normal amount of oxygen. Wounds, infections and burns can heal more quickly in hyperbaric chambers, and it is a life-saving treatment for people with carbon monoxide poisoning or air bubbles in their blood vessels, according to theMayo Clinic.

As theCleveland Clinicexplains, the conditions inside hyperbaric chambers help heal damaged tissue at a faster rate, encouraging the growth of new skin, blood vessels and connective tissue.

Stock image of a hyperbaric chamber.Getty

TheU.S. Food and Drug Administrationpoints out that the “devices are not proven to cure cancer, Lyme disease, autism or Alzheimer’s disease." But as the Cooper family lawyer James Harrington, managing partner of Fieger Law in Southfield, Michigan, toldNBC, their son was being treated for ADHD and sleep apnea; Hyperbaric chambers are not FDA-approved treatments for those disorders.

The Oxford Center in Michigan.The Oxford Center

The Oxford Center

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Four people have been arrested in Cooper’s death, perNBC News, including the founder and CEO of the alternative medicine facility. The Oxford Center was not accredited, according to theUndersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.

source: people.com