title: Hypebaric oxygen treatment in urology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) has been successfully used in several disorders derived from tissue hypoxia, due to the extra oxygen supply to the tissues it enables. In this manuscript we performed a systematic review including all the existing data published until 2010 about HBO in urologic disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a Medline search using the terms "hyperbaric oxygen", "radical cystitis", "interstitial cystitis", "hemorrhagic cystitis", "urological/pelvic fistula"and "Fournier's gangrene". The search was restricted to human clinical trials published in any language.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found 56 papers: 1 randomized controlled trial, 7 reviews and 48 case reports; only one of them was a prospective study. A total of 695 patients were included. Just one study used tissue oxygen measurement to define hypoxia. The number of hyperbaric oxygen therapy sessions ranged from 4 to 44 (mean 19.2 sessions/patient).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The level of evidence from most reviewed papers is low because most of them are case series. Nevertheless, results of most of those studies regarding patient management are good or very good. So it seems that HBO can be very useful in urological diseases related to tissue hypoxia.
authors.affiliation: Urology Department, Hospital General De Castellón, Castellón De La Plana, España. dagalvi@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gallego Vilar
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: García Fadrique
authors.forename: Iván José
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Povo Martín
authors.forename: Jaume
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miralles Aguado
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garau Perelló
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sanchis Verdú
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gimeno Argente
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bosquet Sanz
authors.forename: Miguel Rodrigo
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Aliaga
authors.forename: Francisco Javier
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Claramonte Ramón
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gallego Gómez
mesh_terms: D003556:Cystitis / Q000628:therapy; D019115:Fasciitis, Necrotizing / Q000628:therapy; D018934:Fournier Gangrene / Q000628:therapy; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D006931:Hyperbaric Oxygenation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000266:history / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D014570:Urologic Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D014572:Urology / Q000379:methods*