Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital

Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital held a ceremony both online and offline on August 24 to commemorate the achievement of 1000 cases of hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

At this event, participants congratulated the performance of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Center and discussed how to build the ‘Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Network of Metropolitan Area’, a regional advanced emergency medical system in preparation for large-scale disasters requiring hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Center of Dongtan Hospital has been operating 24 hours since its opening in November 2020, providing prompt treatment to critically ill patients. In particular, hyperbaric oxygen chamber for multiple patients is installed so that it can treat up to 10 patients simultaneously and single-person chamber is also available for patients with infectious diseases who need both isolation and treatment. The center had performed hyperbaric oxygen treatment for a total of 1004 cases until August 3, of which 698 cases were performed in the multiple patients’ chamber and 306 cases in the single-person chamber, and customized treatment was also performed according to the patient's condition.

The most frequently treated diseases at the center were sudden hearing loss, diabetic foot ulcer, carbon monoxide poisoning, and central retinal artery occlusion. In addition, patients with various diseases such as nitrogen dioxide poisoning, decompression sickness, refractory osteomyelitis, skin necrosis and Buerger's disease also received treatment from hyperbaric oxygen chambers.

Director Soon Joo Wang of Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Center said, “Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Center of Dongtan Hospital has been operating non-stop since its opening. It provided prompt and optimal treatment to severe emergency patients who needed hyperbaric oxygen treatment.” “In this event, we expect that this will provide an opportunity for medical institutions which operate hyperbaric oxygen treatment centers in the metropolitan area to build a network that can efficiently respond to large-scale disasters in order to act as true institutes for national safety,” he added.

By Hyun Ho Choi, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (dullie1989@hallym.or.kr)