HOSPITAL EXPANDS SUPPLY OF HYPERBARIC CHAMBERS.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

They look scary enough: big, shiny and heavy machines, waiting to ``swallow'' a person whole.

But the three hyperbaric chambers at Columbia Los Robles Hospital/Medical Center actually may be the last line of defense for people suffering from life- threatening infections, Dr. J.B. Wilmeth said.

``These people get another opportunity for healing,'' said Wilmeth, medical director of the hospital's hyperbaric unit. ``We do a tremendous amount of wound-healing here.''

The chambers pump oxygen into patients' blood under high pressure, treating a host of ailments ranging from stubborn tissue infections to divers' decompression sickness.

Already the prime hyperbaric center serving the tri-county area, the hospital is poised to become even busier in this type of treatment.

About two weeks ago, the hospital spent about $240,000 apiece for two new chambers built by Proteus Hyperbaric Systems Inc., based in Houston. Adding the two to one chamber the hospital has been using for 10 years, hospital officials opened a new, larger hyperbaric unit.

Gangrene, chronic bone infections and radiation-tissue damage are among problems that have been treated in hyperbaric chambers, Wilmeth said.

``They're very high-tech, and they allow us to do a variety of things we have to in a pressurized environment,'' he said.

Hyperbaric treatments were given to the four men who were blasted with toxic gas while working on a Seacliff oil rig in August 1994.

In extreme cases of infection, oxygen levels around the wound or in the area where the infection lies fall low, resulting in the production of lactic acid, and the wound doesn't heal, Wilmeth said. The pressurized environment helps the oxygen dissolve into the bloodstream.

Pumping in the oxygen can get rid of the lactic acid, helping to bump up the white blood cells which can then fight the infection.

Oxygen also is pumped into people who have breathed in deadly gases, such as the hydrogen sulfide inhaled by the oil rig workers, which binds to red blood cells that normally carry oxygen to body organs and tissues.

In the hyperbaric chamber, blood cells can be saturated with oxygen to treat these victims.

Generally only one person at a time uses a chamber, but it can accommodate two. Each chamber also has a small section inside where a doctor or a technician can sit and work one-on-one with a patient.

Doctors also are prepared to ease the fears of claustrophobic patients or others nervous about entering one of the intimidating chambers for the first time. Doctors can administer tranquilizers that last about the duration of the 60- to 90-minute treatments, Wilmeth said.

There's also a videocassette recorder perched atop one of the machines.

``Guess what helps the people the most?'' Wilmeth said about calming those inside a chamber. ``Watching television.''

Now hospital staff members are gearing up for an increase in hyperbaric-treatment patients.

``We do expect an increase, I would say 20 percent above what we do now,'' said registered nurse Debbie Kahn, clinical manager of the hyperbaric unit.

The unit has been treating 15 to 17 patients a day, or about 5,400 a year, she said. There has been an increase since the hospital received the two new chambers, but officials believe part of that is attributable to the fact that demand for hyperbaric treatment has long been heavy in July and August. But a steady, year-round increase is expected.

``We're going to be beefing up our staff to be able to handle the new patient load,'' Kahn said.

Mike Adams, director of marketing and sales for Proteus, has spent the past couple weeks learning the technical side of operating the chambers by working part time at Los Robles. Every so often he climbs inside and talks with a patient.

He said it's hot and humid inside. For the first three minutes, his ears pop about every two seconds and he works his jaws to clear his ears.

``It's not too bad,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Dr. J.B. Wilmeth crawls into a hyperba ric treatment chamber in Thousand Oaks.

(2) Technician Michael Pinckney monitors one of the hyperbaric chambers that pump oxygen into the blood.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News