In 2001, Carl and Hartmann studied 44 patients with complications of early breast cancer lumpectomy and irradiation with fifteen 90-minute HBOT treatments at 2.4 ATA. Before treatment symptoms included pain, swelling (edema), thickening of tissue (fibrosis), and engorged capillaries (telengactasias). Of these patients, thirty-two agreed to undergo hyperbaric treatment; twelve refused. For those who were treated with HBOT, pain was markedly reduced, while seven had complete remission of symptoms by the end of the study. The control group experienced no improvement in pain or edema.

    Radiation treatment of chest and chest wall (most commonly lung and breast malignancies) often results in lung inflammation, pneumonia, and collapsed lung. Initial treatment reduces the level of surfactant, which keeps air passages open. Breathing can be difficult, with the individual suffering cough and shortness of breath.

    Radiation can also cause fibrosis, a stiffening or scarring of the lung which can restrict the full expansion required for breathing.

    Less common is actual tissue death, but lung cancer, and mesothelioma, a cancer of the tissue surrounding the lungs and most often seen in persons exposed to asbestos, may occur. Nerve damage to the larynx (voice box) or the diaphragm can also result from radiation treatment.

    Radiation-induced heart disease and arteriosclerosis are increasing in prevalence, as well as valve insufficiency, and muscle damage. Previous chemotherapy, total body irradiation, or concentrated administration adjacent to the heart or on the left side of the chest increase risks to the heart.

    

Study results for HBOT treatment were 75% resolution for soft tissue necrosis and 53% for bone necrosis, which included substantial healing after the removal of dead bone.

    

Post breast cancer radiation patients with persistent and intense pain experience significant relief with HBOT.

    Many of the effects of radiation treatment are not seen for years. It may be difficult to diagnose which symptoms are caused by recurrence of the tumor, metastasis (spreading of the original tumor to new sites), new malignant growths, or damage caused by the radiation so many years before.

    Hyperbaric oxygen treatment may be useful in the treatment of radiation necrosis of the extremities. Feldmeier published a series of reports detailing the experience of seventeen patients with extremity necrosis who were treated with hyperbaric oxygen. Eleven of seventeen had resolution of their symptoms.

    The extremities (arms and legs) may develop swelling long after radiation treatment. This is associated with damage to the lymph and circulatory systems, treatment-area specific scarring, and muscle atrophy.
    

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) has many of the same benefits for necrosis as it has for other wound-healing applications, reducing swelling and initiating and accelerating the growth of healthy tissue. In cases without recurrent cancer, up to 85% of treated patients had complete soft tissue necrosis resolution with HBOT.

    

For ulcers, HBOT stimulates collagen formation and enhances the development of new blood vessels into the previously oxygen-starved tissues, measurable after only 8 HBOT treatments. After 20 treatments, the development of new capillaries plateaus at 80 to 85% of that in unradiated tissue. HBOT has not shown benefits beyond the initial treatment.