Wound Care
The Wound and Hyperbaric Center treats patients with complicated, traumatic or disease-related wounds and swelling. We offer a variety of advanced techniques that can help patients heal faster. Our evidence-based treatments help the healing process and reduce scarring.
Our staff includes physicians, certified wound and ostomy nursing and wound technicians. We are also able to offer referral services for nutrition counseling and orthotic/prosthetic services for diabetic patients.
Some of the advanced therapies we provide include hyperbaric treatment, stem cell therapies, total contact casting and others.
Diabetic Foot Care
We perform nail care and preventive wound management, and assist in connecting patients to referral services. We can provide referrals to community professionals to assist with your orthotic and shoe management. Our wound specialists and physicians are trained in the most up-to-date techniques for diabetic foot care. We work with your primary healthcare provider to ensure your feet are in proper health.
HBOT/Hyperbaric Medicine
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) uses a special chamber to give high-dose oxygen inhalation therapy. The body's healing process and its defenses against infection are enhanced by increasing the amount of oxygen that reaches tissues. The air inside the pressurized chamber is typically two times greater than normal atmospheric pressure, which allows the patient's blood to carry larger amounts of oxygen. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps the healing process, combats infection, and can be given in addition to other treatments such as antibiotics and surgery.
Conditions that may benefit from hyperbaric therapy include:
- Wound healing
- Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
- Radiation tissue damage
- Skin grafts and flaps
For more than ten years, Bozeman Health Wound Clinic and Hyperbaric Medicine have used a hard-sided hyperbaric oxygen chamber with our patients. We frequently are asked about the difference between Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy vs "Mild" Hyperbaric Therapy.
Soft-sided or inflatable chambers do not provide the same benefit as hard-sided chambers. Ours is a hard-sided chamber that delivers 100% medical grade oxygen. Mild Therapy uses a soft inflatable chamber that delivers ambient air, which is mostly nitrogen and only 21% oxygen. The hard chamber is pressurized to a maximum of 3.0 ATA while the soft chamber only can pressurize to a max of 1.3 ATA. (Sea level is at one atmosphere of air pressure absolute or ATA.)
Chamber pressure needs to be above 1.3 ATA to kill bacteria. Pressures below that level cannot kill bacteria, and can actually promote undesirable growth of aerobic bacteria. The FDA does not recognize soft chambers as a medical device for hyperbaric oxygen treatments.
Many hard-sided chamber treatments are reimbursable by insurance companies and the federal government. Currently, there are no conditions reimbursed by insurance companies for soft chambers.
Treatments in hard-sided hyperbaric chambers are approved by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. Eligible conditions include wounds compounded by diabetes, radiation tissue damages, carbon monoxide poisoning and compromised skin grafts. There is no measurable scientific evidence which backs the claims by soft chambers to cure fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s disease, Autism Spectrum Disorder, sinusitis or other conditions.
Yes. They were initially designed to deliver temporary treatment to mountain climbers and divers who are in route to treatment with a hard chamber.