Early History Forgotten Breakthroughs

The history of modern hyperbaric medicine dates back to around 1620, when Drebbel developed a one-atmosphere diving bell. Forty years later, Boyle and Gay-Lussac formulated the General Gas Law. The modern age of hyperbaric medicine began in 1937, when Benke and Shaw used a hyperbaric chamber to treat decompression sickness (DCS). It was not until 1955 that interest awakened in using hyperbaric oxygenation therapy (HBOT) for conditions other than DCS. That year, Churchill-Davidson began to use oxygen therapy in a hyperbaric chamber to treat radiotherapy-induced damage in cancer patients. In 1956, Boerema of Holland performed the first reported heart surgery in a hyperbaric chamber. In 1962, Sharp and Smith of Scotland were first to treat carbon monoxide poisoning by HBOT. In 1965, Perrins in the United Kingdom showed th