HEALTH & FITNESS cover Dr. Bruce Ruben with an individual-sized full-body chamber at 0 2 — The Complete Hyperbaric, Infusion & Wound Care Center in Farmington Hills. Taking the dive through hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Judith Doner Berne Special to the Jewish News H ow was the dive today? That's a question being asked more frequently in hospital and clinical settings as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), used primarily to heal stubborn wounds and sustain limbs in crush injuries, comes of age. HBOT delivers oxygen at greater than normal pressure when patients are placed in individual or group hyperbaric cham- bers. "Oxygen contains properties that heal damaged organs and tissues in the body:' says Dr. Bruce Ruben, founder of 02 — The Complete Hyperbaric, Infusion & Wound Care Center in Farmington Hills. "HBOT also promotes new tissue growth, decreases swelling and deactivates toxins, thereby increasing the body's ability to fight infection." The two individual-size full-body cham- bers in Ruben's clinic loom like human- • size test tubes resting on their sides. Several Metro Detroit locations offer hyperbaric therapy. In contrast to Ruben's two test-tube-like individual units, Beaumont Hospital's Hyperbaric Medicine Center in Royal Oak has a room-size chamber that can accommodate up to 13 seated people at a time. The patients who use it appear as something out of the undersea world, where modern-day hyperbaric medicine has its roots. How It Works Patients placed in these chambers breathe 100 percent oxygen at approximately 2.2 atmospheres of pressure, equivalent to about 40 feet under water. That increased oxygen provides the fuel for healing dis- eases and injuries in which the body's own oxygen has been reduced, says Dr. Farris Gulli, who heads Beaumont's Hyperbaric Center. Patients seated in Beaumont's multi- chamber wear see-through helmets that are taken off for two short-term intervals during their two-hour "dive' One hyperbaric technologist per six patients stays in the chamber to observe and assist. Outside, the chamber opera- tor monitors air and oxygen pressure and views the patients on a closed-circuit tele- vision screen. Those in an individual chamber don't need helmets and may dive for 90 to 120 minutes, depending on their ailment, while a chamber operator monitors treat- ment from outside. In both cases, patients can watch televi- sion, listen to CDs or pursue their own interests. "HBOT works by improving our immune system's ability to fight infection:' says Ruben, who as an internal medicine and infectious disease physician special- izes in wound care. He became an HBOT advocate because part and parcel of infections is wound care!' He and his wife, Mindy, a marketing specialist, also became scuba divers, certi- fied to go to a depth of 66 feet. "Historically, it's the understanding of diving physics and breathing air (or other (( In Search of Healing on page 32 May 31 *. 2007 31