The Hyperbaric Chamber is an environment that can be pressurized with air and/or a mixture such as to increase the internal pressure in a verifiable way, of such thickness as to withstand pressures higher than those of exercise and used to house people, it can be fixed and mobile, single-seater and multi-seater.
The Hyperbaric Chamber complies with the definition of type II B devices and is framed in the EEC directive of 14.06.1993 relating to medical devices.
Hyperbaric chambers can be classified, based on their use, in:
- Hyperbaric Health Chambers: located in all public and private health facilities;
- Working Hyperbaric Chambers: located in workplaces and used only in emergencies and urgencies such as underwater construction sites both onshore and offshore, or in construction sites such as tunnel constructions (motorways, subways, marine underground tunnels, etc.) using tunnel-digging machines that work in a hyperbaric regime (at pressures higher than the environmental pressure).
The Hyperbaric Chamber must be of a size that allows the stay of a patient on a stretcher with the possibility of assistance by suitable health personnel and must be equipped with a reserved area for rapid access by staff.
During the treatment inside the room, once the predetermined altitude for the specific therapy is reached, the patient will breathe pure oxygen (or a hyperoxygenated gaseous mixture) in a closed circuit, using a device customized to the specific case (orofacial mask, helmet, mount or mechanical ventilation).
