NASA signs hyperbaric chamber pact

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. space agency officials say they've signed a patent license agreement with a California firm to improve medical access to hyperbaric chambers.

Hyperbaric chambers are used to treat many medical conditions by creating an environment in which the atmospheric pressure of oxygen is increased above normal levels, thereby reducing the size of gas bubbles in a person's blood and improving blood flow to oxygen-starved tissues, officials said.

The patent license went to OxyHeal Medical Systems Inc. of National City, Calif., to develop new products based on technologies NASA originally developed for space.

The partially exclusive patent license agreement allows the company to use three technologies developed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston that are associated with inflatable spacecraft modules and portable hyperbaric chambers, officials said. The technologies were part of a program planning how astronauts in space might be treated for decompression sickness that can occur after spacewalks.

In addition to treating decompression sickness, hyperbaric chamber therapy on Earth commonly provides treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning, crush injuries, healing problem wounds, soft tissue infections, significant blood loss and other ailments.