I am not a great mountain climber, or researcher of the Antarctica
nor do I live in Alaska or Iceland.
But here is some interesting excerpt from an article about Hyperbaric Oxygen
for the treatment of frostbites.
"Ledinham first reported the use of HBO for the treatment of frostbite in 1963. Other studies have reported considerable success with the use of HBO for frostbite injuries.
Whether local circulatory effects decrease cellular damage or tissue viability, it appears that an increase in local tissue oxygen tension through the use of HBO improves the viability of tissue and allows vascular and cellular regeneration to occur. The immediate effect of HBO is hyperoxygenation of ischemic tissues, resulting from increased amounts of dissolved oxygen in plasma directly in proportion to the partial pressure of inhaled oxygen. Hyperoxia can be of great benefit through numerous mechanisms: improvement of oxygen delivery and preservation of tissue viability in ischemic areas; vasoconstriction with reduction in local edema with preservation of oxygenation; prevention of ischemic/reperfusion injury syndrome; enhancement of host response to local infections; and enhancement of the wound healing process through stimulation of angiogenesis and tissue growth and support. These processes can improve the local circulation and viability of damaged tissues, even when HBO treatments are started 2 weeks or more after the injury. The ideal time to initiate HBO for frostbite is during the rewarming period because of the reperfusion component of the injury."[1]
This is a lot of medical jargon, but in my books i understand enough to be sure
that I would get some treatments if I ever were unfortunate enough to acquire
a frostbite.
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