What is Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia?
Red blood cells hold hemoglobin, which is mainly responsible for carrying oxygen all over the human body. If the amount of hemoglobin decreases, it can result in a condition called anemia. This can lead to various signs and symptoms due to lack of sufficient oxygen reaching the body’s tissues, also known as an ‘oxygen debt’. These symptoms may include rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, and changes in a person’s mental state. Medical tests may find issues like metabolic acidosis (too much acid in the body), increased levels of lactic acid, and raised cardiac enzymes.
When someone is anemic and showing symptoms, doctors often give them a transfusion of red blood cells to alleviate these symptoms. But for some people, getting a blood transfusion might not be an option due to certain medical conditions like massive autoimmune hemolysis (a condition where the immune system destroys red blood cells). For such patients, there’s another treatment called hyperbaric oxygen therapy which can help increase the amount of oxygen delivered to the tissues and alleviate the symptoms of oxygen debt.
What Causes Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia?
Some people can’t take blood products for medical reasons. For example, some can develop complications like excessive destruction of blood cells and an immune response due to previous adverse reactions to blood transfusions. Others could have a condition where their blood-profile doesn’t match with the available donated blood.
People who can’t get blood transfusions run a higher risk of health problems and death after sudden serious blood loss. This can happen after childbirth, injuries, or during surgery.
Risk Factors and Frequency for Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia
There is an increased risk of death for anemic patients, especially those who are elderly, overweight, undergoing dialysis, or suffering from underlying heart disease.
- Anemic patients have a higher risk of death, especially if they:
- Are elderly
- Are overweight
- Are on dialysis
- Have an underlying heart disease
Signs and Symptoms of Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia
Anemia can produce a variety of signs and symptoms. For instance, those with anemia may feel dizzy, confused, weak, tired, or easily irritated, and may suffer from headaches. They might also have a lower tolerance for exercise and experience heart palpitations or shortness of breath. These symptoms usually don’t appear until the hemoglobin level drops to less than 7 g/dL.
The organs most commonly affected by bleeding in anemia are the digestive, urinary, and respiratory systems. As such, information such as a woman’s menstrual history can be vital, and questions about vomiting blood, coughing blood, blood in urine, blood in stool, and black, tarry stools are important.
- Light-headedness
- Confusion
- Weakness
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Headaches
- Decreased exercise tolerance
- Heart palpitations
- Shortness of breath
In your past medical history, doctors will look for:
- Medications such as aspirin, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and many others
- Supplements like iron, folate, and B12
- Family history of diseases like Sickle cell anemia or spherocytosis
During a physical exam, signs of severe blood loss linked with urgent anemia could include low blood pressure, fast heart rate, and rapid breathing. Further signs might involve a decreased urine output, increased thirst, and changes in mental state. The exact symptoms will depend on factors like other health conditions, age, usual medications, and how serious the illness or injury is. People with long-term anemia often have normal results on their exams, although some signs could suggest specific causes. For instance, pale skin, yellowing of the eyes, and jaundice can suggest hemolytic anemia.
Furthermore, doctors will look for signs of heart murmurs, abnormal breath sounds, enlarged liver or spleen, enlarged thyroid, and swollen lymph nodes. A rectal exam should be done to check for tenderness, joint abnormalities, rashes, and black tarry stools or blood. The presence of bleeding with chronic anemia could point towards a clotting disorder. As mentioned earlier, patients can adjust to low hemoglobin levels, such as 5 to 6 g/dL, if the anemia develops slowly.
Testing for Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia
When checking a patient, doctors look for signs that the body isn’t getting enough oxygen. Vital signs to watch out for are a fast heart rate (tachycardia) and low blood pressure (hypotension). The patient’s mental state might change because of a decreased oxygen supply to the brain, which could potentially cause stroke-like symptoms.
There might also be signs of cuts or blockages in the flow of blood (ischemic changes) when a heart activity test (electrocardiography) is done. Additionally, the patient may have lesser urine due to lower blood flow (hypoperfusion). Lab tests might show too much acid in the blood (metabolic acidosis), unusual heart enzymes, or a base deficit, which means there’s an imbalance in the body’s acid-base levels.
Treatment Options for Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia
The effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a treatment where a patient inhales 100% oxygen in a pressurized chamber, don’t last very long in anemic patients. The extra oxygen only stays in the body’s tissues for a few minutes to a few hours after each session. How often a patient receives this therapy depends on their symptoms; those with more severe symptoms may need treatment two or three times a day. Sessions usually last 3 to 4 hours and take place 3 or 4 times a day, under 2 to 3 atmospheres of pressure.
During this treatment, it’s important to make sure the patient stays hydrated, is getting proper nutrition, and is taking supplements like folic acid, vitamin B, and iron.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be given in a chamber that holds one person or one that holds multiple people. The depth of the treatment, which can affect how much oxygen the body receives, depends on the clinic’s procedures. But generally, providing therapy at greater depths can give better relief from symptoms related to low oxygen levels.
Other treatments that can help decrease the body’s use of oxygen, such as sedation, paralyzing the muscles, or cooling the body, can be used along with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. It’s also wise to limit the amount of blood drawn from the patient; smaller pediatric tubes can be used to take the blood instead of larger ones. A consult with a bloodless medicine specialist may also be useful, particularly for recommendations on iron supplementation and erythropoietin, a hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells.
What else can Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia be?
When investigating a patient’s health condition, doctors might consider several possibilities:
- Alpha thalassemia: a blood disorder that reduces the production of hemoglobin
- Aplastic anemia: a condition where your body stops producing new blood cells
- Beta thalassemia: another type of blood disorder affecting hemoglobin
- Hemolytic anemia: a condition causing your red blood cells to break down too soon
- Iron deficiency anemia: a common form of anemia due to lack of iron
- Low LDL cholesterol: a health condition where you have lower than normal levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol
- Megaloblastic anemia: a condition of having unusually large, abnormal red blood cells
- Myelophthisic anemia: a type of anemia caused by the bone marrow’s inability to produce new blood cells
- Pernicious anemia: a type of anemia caused by a deficiency in vitamin B12
- Sickle cell anemia: a hereditary disorder that affects the shape of your red blood cells, causing numerous health problems
- Spur cell anemia: a type of anemia associated with liver disease
These are some of the health conditions that a doctor would take into account while diagnosing a patient. It’s crucial to diagnose correctly to ensure the proper treatment is given.
What to expect with Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia
Various case studies strongly suggest the effectiveness of HBO, along with other “bloodless” methods, for managing both acute and chronic blood loss anemias.
Possible Complications When Diagnosed with Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia
While mild trauma to the middle ear is not unusual, serious complications related to hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) are rare. However, they can occur and include:
- Problems with the Eustachian tube
- Tearing of the eardrum
- Oxygen toxicity
- Pain in the ear, sinus, or tooth
- Decompression sickness
- Pneumothorax, a collapsed lung
- Arterial gas embolism or air bubbles in the blood vessels
- Nitrogen emboli, or nitrogen bubbles in the central nervous system, lungs, or joints
- Bleeding in the middle ear
- Deafness
- Changes in vision
- Certain types of hemolytic anemia, a blood disorder
- Fire hazard
- Nausea, tiredness, general discomfort
- Claustrophobia, a fear of enclosed spaces
- Equipment malfunction
Preventing Hyperbaric Therapy in Blood Loss Anemia
Deciding not to have a transfusion doesn’t mean you’re refusing all medical treatment. There are many ways to take care of patients effectively without using blood transfusions. Bloodless Medicine and Surgery is a field that utilizes different strategies and techniques to lessen blood loss, handle lower blood cell counts, correct deficiencies, and manage patients without having to give them blood transfusions for anemia.
