Dr. Alan Coulson, of Sandhills Regional Medical Center, has been named a member of the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine.

His membership enhances the strength of the hospital's Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine, a news release said. For the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine, quality improvement in the practice of medicine is an integral part of the college's mission, the release said.

Hyperbaric medicine is the use of oxygen to treat patients' problems. The difference is that this oxygen is purified to 100 percent and pressurized to make sure it gets into all parts of the body. It provides additional oxygen to patients by dissolving extra oxygen in the body fluids.

The patient lies in a special chamber like a tanning booth for 90 minutes a day for 30 days. Oxygen is pumped in to provide therapy.

"One of the more typical patients we see has diabetes and an infected ulcer in their foot," Coulson said. "Hyperbaric oxygen treatment addresses both of his problems, first for the infection and secondly, the successful healing of the ulcer," he said.

The germs or bacteria causing the infection are eaten by the body's defending white cells, but then they have to be killed inside the white cell, the news release said. This is done by a weaponized form of oxygen called an oxygen-free radical.

The bottom line is that hyperbaric oxygen saves the diseased legs and feet of diabetic patients, Coulson said. Major studies have shown a dramatic reduction of major amputations from 33 percent to 8.6 percent using hyperbaric medicine.

Coulson also recently became a Fellow of the American College of Certified Wound Care Specialists -- one of only 23 fellows in North Carolina.

Anyone needing more information about the Sandhills Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine can call (910) 205-1525.