HBOT Conversations Podcast Ep 4 | Dr. Harch - Thermal Burns & Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

In episode 2 of 9, host Edward di Girolamo speaks with world renowned HBOT expert, Dr. Paul G. Harch on thermal burns, FDA approvals, the misguidance of physicians towards HBOT and insurance coverage. di Girolamo immediately stresses that he wants to better understand what the roadblock is, why are more burn victims not using Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy? Dr. Harch explains that it’s simple, they don’t know about it.

di Girolamo tells a story about his journey to educate a doctor in Galvenston, TX who oversees a handful of hospitals known to treat youth burn victims. He spent time chatting with the doctor via phone, and educating the physician that the FDA has now cleared hyperbaric oxygen as a treatment for thermal burns. During the conversation, di Girolamo outlined the benefits of HBOT as a better and more painless treatment option for these children. The doctor stated that he was excited and interested; and welcomed di Girolamo to send him a copy of UHMS’s referenced research on thermal burns that ultimately led to the FDA clearance. The research by Dr. Cianci, “Adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the treatment of thermal burns” was overnighted and received/signed for. After that, the Galveston, TX doctor refused to take di Girolamo’s calls. di Girolamo later discovered that this particular doctor was also the head of the plastic surgery unit. He believes that the doctor’s hesitation to embrace Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, a potentially safer and painless recovery method for youth burn victims, had everything to do with the reduction of plastic surgeries the hospital would have seen.

Dr. Harch stresses that the timing of this conversation about thermal burns is impeccable; it was only a few months ago that he had given a lecture on this. He reviewed all of the literature on hyperbaric oxygen in burns and part of the problem was the randomized trials. Every doctor in medicine wants randomized trials. There’s some real positive information that exists and there’s neutral information – it’s mixed. But, yet there are many articles out there that support it, and the animal literature is overwhelming for burns. Harch explains that one of the key things to using HBOT to treat thermal burns is that the therapy is most effective when it’s done almost immediately to treat the inflammatory part of the burn injury; the reperfusion injury. If you get to it early enough, HBOT can deliver a dramatic improvement. However, even if it’s delayed hyperbaric oxygen therapy still has many positive qualities of healing, because it reduces swelling in every traumatic and injurious condition. There is literature and science to support this in just about every organ system where it’s been applied.

Harch continues to educate on using HBOT for thermal burns and stresses that if used immediately after an acute burn, it can reduce swelling. This reduction in swelling will prevent the progression from second degree, deep second degree, to third degree. It’s when it gets to third degree that burn patients have to cut off the skin and are in need of a skin graft, which is very painful plastic surgery process with horrendous scarring. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has the evidence to support this, and the ability to reduce the swelling and prevent that deep second to third degree conversion. Harch tells us that if a burn patient can do that, then the number of debridements, surgeries, and skin graftings is reduced.

But, then the question remains….. who is going to pay for the Hyperbaric