Plateau soldiers are using the balanced-air-pressure oxygen chamber. (Photo by Guo Shuai)
By Zhao Jinshi, Gong Yucong and Zhang Qiang
BEIJING, Nov. 3 -- A type of balanced-air-pressure chamber of oxygen therapy was put it into use at the Tianwendian border defense company under the Hotan military sub-command of the PLA Xinjiang Military Command in mid-October.
The oxygen therapy chamber can seat eight plateau border guards at one time and enable them to breathe oxygen under normal atmospheric pressure or slightly higher pressure when entering into the chamber, which helps eliminate the adverse reaction because of hypoxia and low air pressure on plateau, and prevents mountain sickness.
There are several "outposts in the cloud" under the Hotan military sub-command, which are stationed on the Karakoram Plateauat 5,000 meters above sea level, with the oxygen content less than 40 percent of that onthe plain, and the annual average temperature below -10°C. The natural environment is really very harsh.
Soldiers who perform high-intensity missions there are vulnerable to high altitude diseases due to lack of oxygen. Different from the portable oxygen inhalation facilities that only meet the body's normal demand for oxygen, the chamber can also alleviate the damage caused by the plateau environment to the body organs of the border troops, which would significantly relieve the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular burden, and effectively reduce the incidence of high-altitude diseases.
"Compared with self-inhalation of oxygen, the chamber provides more controllable, targeted and scientific health care functions," said Sun Weiqiang, a military doctor assigned to the Tianwendian border defense company.