The Miracle Compound: Using oxygen to heal radiation injury

Facing a cancer diagnosis is life-changing, and even when you beat the disease the aftereffects of the radiation treatment can be so serious that the survivor might face more painful surgery.

What if there was a non-invasive treatment for those cancer survivors who are suffering from the side effects of radiation treatment, and it was covered by insurance.

There is, and it's offered right here in Michiana.

In a special report, we are looking into how doctors at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center are using oxygen to heal the damage done by life-saving radiation and giving patients their lives back.

As Tom MacFarland is pushed into a huge hyperbaric chamber, it looks like something out of a science fiction moving. But the chamber is healing radiation injury and changing the lives of cancer survivors suffering from delayed radiation injuries.

"Cancer survivors who have had radiation will have fibrosis or basically scarring of the tissue, where that tissue is no longer healthy or viable, it doesn't function in a normal way," explains Dr. Craig Miller, director of the Wound Healing Center.

MacFarland drove down to Saint Joseph's Wound Healing Center from Lawrence, Michigan. He's a prostate cancer survivor and a truck driver, which was an issue. Tom told me, "That was an issue; it was difficult to deal with. I adjusted my life around it and my work around it to make sure that I could always make it to a bathroom when I needed to."

Six years ago, Ed Kintz of Granger fought nasal and brain stem cancer. He first was sent to Bloomington for proton beam treatment. "The nice thing about proton treatment is they can stop it immediately," he says.

Because Ed's lymph nodes were involved, he also underwent IMRT radiation therapy to his lower face and neck area. Like Tom, it saved his life but caused a lot of problems with his teeth and ability to eat. "Because there is so little blood supply, particularly after the radiation, it will not promote healing in the jaw," he explains.

The radiation took a terrible toll on his jaw and teeth. His oral surgeon recommended he first consider hyperbaric oxygen therapy prior to any dental work.

Dr. Miller explains how it works. "Right now you and I are breathing 21 percent oxygen. In the chamber, the patient is breathing 100 percent oxygen. We pressurize the chamber, and when we do that we make the oxygen bubble smaller, and the oxygen bubble is able to travel much further -- 130 four times further -- in the tissue. By hyper-oxygenating the tissue under pressure, we're able to reduce fibrosis, grow new tissue, we mobilize stem cells from the bone marrow, and all these things help to rejuvenate the tissue."

For Ed, whose only other option was giving up a rib to have his jaw rebuilt, it was a no-brainer. "I was glad to not go through that risk, so it was 20 times before the teeth came out and ten afterwards."

By 20 times, he's referring to 20 dives in the hyperbaric chamber.

While Tom is in the chamber, a nurse gets on the phone and asks, "Everything going okay in there?" Tom answers, "Yes. Alright, good."

Both men were in the chamber for roughly 90 minutes five days a week for several weeks.

I asked Tom how comfortable he was in the chamber. He joked, "A Tempur-Pedic would be nice, but it's pretty good." And he smiles.

Dr. Miller says many cancer survivors aren't aware that this treatment is an option and covered by insurance. I asked him whether this treatment is changing lives. His answer was an emphatic "Absolutely. It's very exciting to see that happen. Patients are really excited when they have the results."

And you can count Ed and Tom among them.

Ed was thrilled with the treatment. "Great outcome, great outcome. My teeth are out, my jaw is healed, I have no problems with blood flow."

Tom agreed that life is better. "It's made it tremendously better. Now I can live my life, I can run my routes and live my life like a normal 70-year-old. It doesn't make you 50 again, I'm still 70, but it's like a normal 70-year-old!"

They're beating cancer and literally breathing easier thanks to the healing benefits of oxygen

The hyperbaric therapy is used for radiation injury, but it is also effective in treating serious diabetic wounds.

To see if you might benefit from the therapy, contact the Saint Joseph Health System's Wound Healing Center. They have wound centers in both Mishawaka and Plymouth.

Saint Joseph Regional Health System

Wound Healing Center

611 E. Douglas Rd, Suite 128

Mishawaka, IN 46545

Phone: 574-335-6210