Sabrina Gauer was 27 years old when she learned a sore on the side of her tongue was actually stage 4 mouth cancer.
The singer had to have part of her tongue removed and reconstructed in an intensive surgery to carve out the aggressive oral squamous cell carcinoma tumor in October 2015. When Gauer was told the next step in her treatment was radiation therapy, she opted for a controversial method against her doctor's recommendation: oxygen therapy.
Now, the 28-year-old from Rochester, New York, has been cancer-free for 20 months after spending six weeks in a hyperbaric oxygen therapy tank - and can still sing.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT)
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is breathing 100% oxygen while under increased atmospheric pressure. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a well-established treatment for decompression sickness, a hazard of scuba diving. Other conditions treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy include serious infections, bubbles of air in your blood vessels, and wounds that won't heal as a result of diabetes or radiation injury.
When a patient is given 100% oxygen under pressure, hemoglobin is saturated, but the blood can be hyperoxygenated by dissolving oxygen within the plasma. The patient can be administered systemic oxygen via two basic chambers: Type A, multiplace; and Type B, monoplace. Both types can be used for routine wound care, treatment of most dive injuries, and treatment of patients who are ventilated or in critical care.
The global hyperbaric oxygen therapy market is estimated to grow at an impressive CAGR during the forecast period 2016-2022.
There are various factors like the growing incidences of acute and chronic wounds and increase in the prevalence of wound site infections which is driving the global hyperbaric oxygen therapy market. The increasing patient pool worldwide is also injecting huge growth opportunities in the global market. Increase in the demand for low cost treatment is increasing medical tourism in the emerging countries which has increased the patient’s pool in the emerging countries. Also, the growing technological advancements are also accelerating the growth in the global hyperbaric oxygen therapy market.
Source: emedicine.medscape.com, DailyMail.co.uk, ResearchandMarkets.com, mayoclinic.org