Doctors at St. Elizabeth Hospital used hyperbaric chambers to treat a Grand Chute family poisoned by carbon monoxide Thursday.
The critical machines are becoming more widespread, especially in Wisconsin hospitals.
The best known way to treat carbon monoxide poisoning is to spend a couple of hours in the glass tube.
Dr. Lubomyr Domashevsky of St. Elizabeth Hospital said "The person is acting unusually unable to walk, not thinking clearly, unconsciousness."
But, if the patient makes it to the hospital in time the bloodstream is bombarded with oxygen, and the hyperbaric chamber saves another life.
Dr. Domashevsky said "It accelerates getting that carbon monoxide from the tissues much much much faster, about 20 times faster than 100% oxygen will."
Doctors say one of their favorite things about the hyperbaric chambers is the speed at which they work. Several times a month at St. Elizabeth, doctors say they see patients go from near death to perfectly healthy in a matter of a couple of hours.
Dr. Domashevsky added "The patients will often come in confused sometimes even comatose, and they will come around rather quickly with oxygen and even a single treatment."
Two years ago, St. Elizabeth was just one of two Wisconsin hospitals where these life-saving machines could be found.
That number has since grown to 14 across the state. Among those include Green Bay's Surora Baycare and St. Vincent.
Doctors say that's a testament to how vital they really are.
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=7550027
No comments:
Post a Comment