HBOT: Relieving Pain from Cancer Radiation Therapy (Radiation Necrosis)

Radiation can effectively treat certain cancerous tumors, but it often leaves patients feeling drained and in pain once they’ve recovered. In addition, while doctors take great care to minimize damage to healthy tissues during treatment, these can sometimes also decay or die. We call this injurious condition necrosis. Unfortunately, the symptoms from radiation injury frequently don’t appear until much later –sometimes even decades after the cancer treatment is complete.

Radiation injury can be disabling, and most medical treatments don’t work effectively at all. But many radiation necrosis victims find their pain improves significantly with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), a treatment approved by the FDA and AMA that we have offered at our Palm Harbor, Florida center for over 14 years.

HBOT works by flooding the body with pure oxygen under carefully controlled atmospheric pressures. This high oxygen level permits blood to deliver vital nutrients to damaged cells. The therapy successfully minimizes swelling and reverses damage to blood vessels and tissues impacted by radiation treatment. HBOT reduces scar tissue formation and promotes the growth of healthy new capillaries, helping the body to heal.

The Unintended Consequences of Radiation Therapy:

•Prostate and Colorectal Cancer Radiation – may cause rectal pain, diarrhea, bleeding, bladder irritation and incontinence. HBOT can improve symptoms in 50-60% of patients, sometimes even completely.

•Cervical and Bladder Cancer Radiation – may cause inflammation of the bladder that leads to severe pain and bleeding. Treatment with FDA approved HBOT has resolved these in 75% of patients.

•Head, Neck and Mouth Radiation – may cause open sores and mouth ulcers, pain while swallowing and the potential for hemorrhage (uncontrolled bleeding). Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy successfully reverses these symptoms in 83% of cases.

•Brain Tumor Radiation – may cause memory problems and impaired thought processes, hormonal changes, disrupted sleep, low sex drive, mood disturbances, nausea, dizziness and changes to vision. These symptoms often appear months or years following radiation. The success rate of HBOT to halt the progress of or even reverse brain damage is approximately 90%.

If your radiation treatments have caused you to suffer from discomfort or chronic pain, we can help. To learn more about AMA and FDA approved Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, call (727) 787-7077 today, or click here to schedule a personalized consultation. We will confirm your appointment soon.