July 27, 2026
3m 38s
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Coverage of the Hyperbaric Summit Costa Rica 2026, organized by Biobarica and Fisiosport.
The Hyperbaric Summit Costa Rica 2026 brought together five specialists from oncology, rehabilitation, plastic surgery, pulmonology, and neurology with one shared agenda: to present real data from real patients treated with hyperbaric therapy.
The question that ran through every talk was always the same: how does scientific evidence translate into a patient who actually gets better?
This is what they answered.
Talk 1: The Right Dose Changes Everything — Dr. Mariana Cannellotto
Dr. Cannellotto, a hyperbaric medicine specialist and president of Ihmera, opened the day with the most technical presentation: the physiological mechanisms that explain why hyperbaric therapy works.
Her starting point was an objection many physicians have but few voice out loud: isn't it risky to give more oxygen than necessary?
Her answer was precise. Hyperbaric oxygen is dose-dependent. Within the right window, it generates a controlled increase in reactive species that activates the body's own antioxidant defenses.
Using her own patient data from 20 sessions, she showed a transient peak in oxidative stress that returns to normal values within a month, with a sustained and statistically significant improvement in total antioxidant capacity and no signs of kidney damage.
Then came the clinical cases: a Fournier's gangrene with near-complete closure after 15 sessions, a radiation-induced skin syndrome with less fibrosis and pain, and series of patients with respiratory sequelae from COVID.
Her conclusion was an invitation to precision: hyperbaric therapy has well-defined indications, and it is exactly within those boundaries where the evidence supports it most strongly.
Talk 2: Cancer Is Not a Contraindication — MSc. Carlos Calderón Mora
The fear that most holds physicians back in oncology is clear: can hyperbaric oxygen fuel tumor growth?
Carlos Calderón Mora, director of LinfaKinesis and a specialist in vascular and oncological rehabilitation, arrived at the summit with evidence to answer that question. Reviews of in vitro and in vivo studies found no indication that the therapy stimulates tumor growth or recurrence, even in patients with active solid tumors or those previously treated.
He backed it up with his own cases: children with skin and soft tissue injuries from oncological treatments — gaseous gangrene of the head and neck, post-thoracotomy dehiscences, post-actinic lesions.
The result: 83% complete cure (10 out of 12 patients), no serious adverse effects, and treatment adherence close to 100%.
Context that gave weight to everything: in Costa Rica, cancer causes one in every five deaths. Expanding the tools available for these patients carries an urgency the numbers confirm.
Talk 3: The Hyperbaric Chamber Enhances Rehabilitation — MSc. Alejandro Herrera Sánchez
Herrera Sánchez, a physiotherapist and clinical director of FisioSport, raised something with enormous implications for any kinesiologist or rehabilitation physician: hyperbaric therapy and functional rehabilitation reinforce each other.
Hyperbaric therapy reduces tissue hypoxia, modulates persistent inflammation, and promotes angiogenesis and collagen synthesis. It prepares the biological environment so that any recovery plan works better.
He presented concrete cases: recovery of an amputation stump, chronic wounds of years of evolution with progressive closure session by session, neurological and oncological rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation restores function; hyperbaric therapy creates the biological environment for that function to be recovered more effectively. Together, the results exceed what either could achieve alone.
Talk 4: Breathing Better After an Abdominoplasty — MSc. Fabiola Gallo
This was the most surprising talk of the day. Fabiola Gallo, a respiratory therapist specializing in respiratory physiotherapy and plastic surgery nursing, explored a territory almost no one studies: what happens to ventilatory mechanics after an abdominoplasty with rectus abdominis plication.
She compared maximum inspiratory pressure, maximum expiratory pressure, and forced vital capacity at different postoperative windows, with and without sessions of hyperbaric medicine.
The treated group recovered respiratory parameters earlier. With concrete benefits: less opioid use, better secretion management, lower risk of atelectasis.
For surgeons already using hyperbaric protocols in their postoperative care, one more argument. For those still evaluating it, one more reason to move forward.
Talk 5: The Nervous System Responds Too — MSc. Andrea Esquivel
MSc. Andrea Esquivel, from TERAP Costa Rica, closed the day in the territory generating the most growing interest: neurology.
She explained why with clarity: neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and microcirculation alterations are common mechanisms across conditions as different as stroke, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and spinal cord injury sequelae. The controlled hyperoxia generated by hyperbaric therapy can intervene in several of them simultaneously: angiogenesis, neuroplasticity, cellular repair, inflammatory modulation.
She made it tangible with the clinical follow-up of a patient with multiple sclerosis from diagnosis in 2018 through 2023, documenting her progression as hyperbaric sessions were added within a multimodal approach over the years.
One case. Five years. A progression that speaks for itself.
What the Medical Community Takes Away
Five different specialties. Five different sets of data. One clinical logic: controlled oxygenation, applied with judgment.
The Hyperbaric Summit Costa Rica 2026 demonstrated that when the physiology is well understood, hyperbaric therapy finds its place in virtually any context where tissue oxygenation is part of the problem. That includes more specialties than most physicians imagine.
We will keep organizing these spaces because hyperbaric therapy advances faster when the physicians practicing it share what they are seeing. The next event is already on its way.
If you are a physician and are evaluating adding hyperbaric medicine to your practice, contact our team and a Biobarica specialist will guide you from the very first step.
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