To serve the growing health needs of the community, Hialeah Hospital continues to enhance its services with new technological advancements. Just recently, the hospital’s Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine acquired the equipment necessary to offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Patients are also benefitting from a new minimally invasive approach to remove rectal polyps and tumors.

 

During HBOT, patients are enclosed in a chamber at greater-than-normal atmospheric pressure. They breathe in pure oxygen, which saturates their blood plasma, allowing it to carry 15 to 20 times the normal amount of healing oxygen to the body’s tissues. HBOT helps the body’s oxygen-dependent, wound healing mechanisms function more efficiently.

 

Up to 18 percent of wound care patients may require this treatment option, which is administered in a comfortable environment by skilled, experienced technicians. Approved indications for HBOT include but are not limited to: diabetic ulcers of the lower extremities, compromised skin grafts and flap, crush injury/acute traumatic peripheral ischemia and progressive necrotizing infections.

Not only have wound care patients benefited from the innovative technology at Hialeah Hospital, but also individuals seeking a minimally invasive alternative to treat colorectal cancer.

 

As the third most common type of cancer in both men and women, most cases of colorectal cancer begin as noncancerous clumps of cells, called polyps, in either the large intestine or rectum. If left untreated, these polyps become cancerous.

 

Earlier this year, Hialeah Hospital became one of the select few hospitals in Miami-Dade County to offer Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery (TEM), an approach designed to enable surgeons to have a longer reach and better visibility in the rectum to remove certain polyps and early stage tumors. Performed by Dr. Roger Pons, colorectal and general surgeon on Hialeah Hospital’s medical staff, this procedure eliminates the need for many patients to have major surgery.