Oxigenación hiperbárica en la República de Cuba / Oxygen Inhalation therapy in Cuba

RESUMO

In Cuba, the first HBO researchs dealing with the treatment of gas gangrene began between 1967 and 1969. Since then, hypetbaric medicine has evolvedenormously, so much so that Cuba is now considered the most developed Latin American country in the field. A grear part of this evolition is due to the work and sutdies realized by the Hospital Municipal Hermanos Ameijeiras and to the establishment since 1986 of the Program for the Development of HBO by the Minister of Public Health. The program has gone so far as to cover the national implementation of hyperbaric medical services in all the provincial hospitals. Cuba has been a center for the formation of HBO health professionals, qualifying and certifying the majorty of Latin American doctors who persue the specialization. It also hosted the Second Congress of th UHMS Latin American Chapter in 1998. Currently, Cuba is second only to South Korea in its proportion of hyperbarc chambers per person. Through its intense investigative programs, important contributions have been made to HBO medicine. These include advances in the use of HBO for the treatment of aseptic necrosis of the femoralhead, Perthe's disease and pervic inflematory disease (PID). Important developments have also been made in the combined application of HBO for the treatment of advanced adencarcinoma of the prostate, in the practice of underwater oxigen-hyperbaric rehabilitation in neurological secuelas, in the utilization of HBO in the treatment of amaurosis due to pituitary adenom, and as the only treatment for Herpes Zoster