Sharon Regional brings Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to Mercer County

October 2008

Sharon Regional now offers Hyperbaric Medicine, and specifically, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), through its Advanced Wound Recovery Center, 2425 Garden Way, Hermitage. Renovations were completed at the Wound Center to accommodate a new Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber to provide treatments for patients suffering from diabetic ulcers, gangrene, pressure ulcers, compromised skin grafts and flaps, certain necrotizing infections, carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness, severe injuries that might otherwise require amputation, and wounds that haven't healed within 30 days.

Through Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, patients breathe 100 percent oxygen while remaining in an enclosed, pressurized system that delivers oxygen quickly and in high concentrations to injured areas. As the patient breaths this pure oxygen at a pressure greater than one atmosphere, a greater amount of oxygen gets into the blood. This allows parts of the body that need more oxygen (those parts of the body that are not getting enough circulation) to receive additional oxygen which can arrest certain types of infections and enhance wound healing.

This generation of new tissue growth and new blood vessels is known as angiogenesis. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy also supplies sufficient oxygen so that the antibiotics that physicians order for infected wounds can breach the affected cell membranes and begin killing bacteria.

"I am excited about the introduction of hyperbaric medicine and the opportunity to enhance patient care through Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for patients of Sharon Regional and the surrounding region," says Gene Marcelli, M.D., general surgeon and medical director of Sharon Regional's Advanced Wound Recovery Center.

Sharon Regional's Wound Center is staffed by a team of physicians who specialize in vascular surgery, general surgery, podiatry, and physiatry along with a nursing team with advanced certification from the American Academy of Wound Management. The Center also utilizes a multidisciplinary support team of orthopedic surgeons, endocrinologists, physical therapists, nutritionists, and other support staff.

For more information about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy or other services of the Advanced Wound Recovery Center, please call 724-347-0870.