Definition

Noun: A sealed, pressurized enclosure designed to allow a person to breathe pure oxygen or a high-oxygen mixture at pressures greater than normal atmospheric pressure. It is primarily a medical device used for therapeutic purposes.

Usage and Examples

A hyperbaric chamber is used in clinical settings for specific medical treatments. * The diver with decompression sickness was immediately placed in a hyperbaric chamber. * Treatment in a hyperbaric chamber can help heal wounds that are slow to close. * The hospital's burn unit has a specialized hyperbaric chamber.

Advanced Usage

• Monoplace vs. Multiplace Chambers: A is designed to treat a single patient, who typically breathes the pressurized oxygen directly. A can accommodate several patients and medical staff at once; patients usually breathe oxygen through masks or hoods.
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT): This is the formal name for the treatment administered inside a hyperbaric chamber. The therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in this pressurized environment to increase oxygen saturation in bodily tissues.

Variants and Related Words

• Hyperbaric (Adjective): Of or relating to greater than normal pressure, especially atmospheric pressure. Used to describe the chamber or the therapy itself (e.g., hyperbaric medicine, hyperbaric treatment).
• Decompression Chamber: A type of hyperbaric chamber historically and specifically associated with treating diving-related illnesses like decompression sickness ("the bends"). While all decompression chambers are hyperbaric, not all hyperbaric chambers are used solely for decompression.
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) (Noun Phrase): The treatment procedure performed using a hyperbaric chamber.

Synonyms

• Pressure Chamber: A more general term for any sealed chamber that can simulate high-pressure environments, which includes hyperbaric chambers.
• Recompression Chamber: Another term, largely synonymous with , used for treating diving injuries by increasing pressure.

Related Phrases and Contexts

• To undergo HBOT: To receive treatment in a hyperbaric chamber.
  • The patient will undergo HBOT daily for two weeks.
• Chamber dive: A term sometimes used in diving medicine to describe a treatment session inside a decompression/hyperbaric chamber that simulates a controlled dive profile.
• To be pressurized: Describes the action of increasing the air pressure inside the chamber.
  • Once the door is sealed, the chamber is pressurized to the prescribed depth.

Noun

1. a large chamber in which the oxygen pressure is above normal for the atmosphere; used in treating breathing disorders or carbon monoxide poisoning