Cancer recovery through hyperbaric oxygen therapy

BY JULIE HOLLAND

Ronald “Tiny” Wilson’s whole world changed in 2006 when doctors told him he had pancreatic cancer. The shocking news was even more devastating because his ex-wife had recently died from the same disease. At his son’s urging, Wilson traveled from his home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to a Seattle medical center where he underwent a complex surgery followed by six weeks of intense chemo-therapy and radiation treatment. Wilson survived the surgery and the follow-up treatments, but his journey wasn’t over yet.

Rough road to recovery

In the years since his original surgery in July 2006, Wilson has had checkups every three to six months and several additional surgeries. While the radiation treatment helped kill the cancer, it also severely damaged his intestinal tissue.

In July 2011, some old symptoms returned and Wilson feared the cancer was back. “They told me I didn’t have cancer again, but there were problems with my liver and intestines,” says Wilson. “The doctor said my intestines were the consistency of mush. They were damaged from the radiation treatment and there was nothing they could do. They suggested I try hyperbaric treatment.”

When Wilson first came to the Deaconess Hyperbaric and Wound Healing Center (DHWHC), he recently had undergone another surgery to place a stent, or a small flexible tube, inside his bile duct. The surgeon planned to place several stents, but Wilson’s intestinal tissue was too damaged to hold the sutures necessary for stent placement.

“His intestinal tissue was friable or crumbly,” says Greg Jones, M.D., medical director of the DHWHC. “It was soft and had poor integrity, so it wouldn’t hold up under the irritation and fixation of the stent. In that circumstance, there’s no surgery available to fix it. With internal radiation damage, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the only treatment currently available that may help.”

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Wilson began a series of 38 two-hour long sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy at DHWHC in August 2011. During hyper-baric therapy, patients lie comfortably in a pressurized chamber while they breathe 100 percent oxygen.

“Hyperbarics can help heal radiation tissue damage as it works on capillaries that feed the bone, mucosa and skin,” says Dr. Jones. “When those tissues are already damaged and then exposed to high levels of oxygen therapy, hyperbaric therapy stimulates body growth factors and causes the capillaries to branch out and grow new tissue.”

Several of the Deaconess Hyperbaric and Wound Healing Center team members gather in one of the hyperbaric chambers with their former patient, Ronald “Tiny” Wilson. From left to right: CJ Crane, R.N., DHWHC nursing director; Nancy Northey, R.N.; Wilson; Jimmy Schmedeman, R.N.; and Marilynne Wilson, R.N.

After Wilson completed his hyperbaric oxygen therapy at DHWHC, he returned to Seattle for a follow-up procedure to remove and replace his bile duct stent, something that will be required on a regular basis for the remainder of his life. Wilson believes the hyperbaric therapy improved the tissue damage enough to make an impact in his recovery. “They took the one stent out,” says Wilson, “but they were able to put two in this time without any problem. That tells me there was enough improvement in the damaged tissue to make a difference this time.”

At Deaconess Hospital, approximately half of the patients treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy are recovering from radiation tissue damage. “Cancers are being detected earlier and people are living longer,” says Dr. Jones. “More people are being treated with radiation. It isn’t a dangerous treatment and not everyone has tissue damage, but killing the cancer is far more important initially. We do our best to help improve the patient’s quality of life after the cancer is gone.”

Wilson’s positive attitude, determination to live and the support of his wife, Linda, and their children, have fueled his efforts to beat cancer. “For most people it’s a death sentence,” says Wilson. “Only 4 percent of people survive pancreatic cancer. Ten years ago, I probably would have panicked. Instead, that was when my life really started. I am so blessed.”