Education guide

What Health Canada Approves Hyperbaric Oxygen For

Last reviewed: May 20, 2026

Health Canada licenses hyperbaric chambers as medical devices, and only for a defined list of 14 recognized conditions. Here is what's on that list, how the licensing works, and what Health Canada says about everything else.

This article is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend hyperbaric oxygen for any condition. Speak with a physician about whether hyperbaric oxygen is appropriate for you.

What Health Canada Approves Hyperbaric Oxygen For

One of the most common points of confusion about hyperbaric oxygen is the gap between what it is officially recognized to treat and what it is sometimes advertised to treat. This article lays out the official picture in Canada: what Health Canada licenses hyperbaric chambers for, how that licensing works, and what Health Canada says about uses beyond the recognized list.

It does not recommend hyperbaric oxygen for any condition. That is a decision for you and a physician.

The short version

Hyperbaric chambers are medical devices in Canada, and they require a licence from Health Canada before they can be imported or sold [1]. According to Health Canada, the evidence supports the use of these chambers for 14 specific conditions recognized by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS), and Health Canada has issued device licences only for those 14 conditions — not for any others [1].

The 14 recognized conditions

Health Canada states that, in October 2011, the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society recognized hyperbaric oxygen therapy as an effective treatment for the following 14 conditions [1]:

  1. Air or gas embolism (air or gas bubbles in the bloodstream)
  2. Carbon monoxide poisoning (e.g., from smoke or car exhaust)
  3. Gas gangrene
  4. Crush injury, compartment syndrome, and other acute traumatic problems where blood flow is reduced or cut off (e.g., frostbite)
  5. Decompression sickness (“the bends”)
  6. Enhancement of healing for wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers
  7. Exceptional blood loss (anemia)
  8. Intracranial abscess (an accumulation of pus in the brain)
  9. Necrotizing soft tissue infections (“flesh-eating disease”)
  10. Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
  11. Delayed radiation injury (e.g., radiation burns that develop after cancer therapy)
  12. Skin grafts and flaps that are not healing well
  13. Thermal burns (e.g., from fire or electrical sources)
  14. Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL)

The UHMS maintains the international reference list of these indications and updates it over time; Health Canada points readers to the UHMS for current details [1][2].

How the licensing actually works

The mechanism matters, because it explains why “approved” means something specific here.

Health Canada describes hyperbaric chambers as medical devices that must be licensed before they can be imported and sold in Canada [1]. Before granting a licence, Health Canada says its experts review the technical information to confirm the device is “safe and effective when used for specific conditions” [1]. Health Canada states that it reviewed the scientific evidence, found that chambers are effective for the 14 UHMS-recognized conditions, and therefore issued device licences for those 14 conditions — adding that “no device licences have been issued for the use of hyperbaric chambers to treat other conditions” [1].

In other words, the licence attaches to a defined set of uses. A chamber being legally sold in Canada is not the same thing as that chamber being licensed for whatever a given clinic advertises.

How the recognized conditions are delivered

Health Canada describes the recognized-condition treatment this way: the patient enters a closed chamber, the pressure inside is increased, and once it reaches the prescribed level the patient breathes 100 percent oxygen for a set time, with breaks to breathe the regular chamber air (which is about 21 percent oxygen) [1]. The pressure, the session length, and the number of sessions vary by condition [1].

Health Canada notes that these treatments “normally take place in hospitals or private clinics,” and that some chambers hold one person while others hold two or more [1]. In practice, the publicly funded programs for these conditions run through hospital hyperbaric units — covered by the provincial plan (for example MSP in British Columbia) for qualifying patients with a physician referral [3].

What Health Canada says about everything else

This is the part most people don’t realize.

Health Canada explicitly cautions the public about claims beyond the recognized list. It writes that “the operators of some private clinics claim it can also be used to treat such conditions as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, cancer, AIDS, stroke and migraine headaches,” and states plainly that “there is no scientific proof to support these claims” [1]. It advises readers to “be skeptical of anyone who advertises or offers hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat” those conditions [1].

Health Canada also raises a practical and a clinical concern about pursuing the therapy for non-recognized uses: that people “may spend a lot of money for little or no benefit,” and — more seriously — that they “may delay, or in some cases not receive, proven treatments that could help them” [1].

Internationally, the picture varies: some countries recognize a much longer list of indications than Canada does [2]. But the relevant standard for a Canadian reader is the Canadian one.

What this means when you’re reading a provider’s website

None of this tells you whether hyperbaric oxygen is right for you — only a physician can speak to that. But it gives you a clear test for reading provider marketing:

  • If a provider’s claims line up with the 14 recognized conditions and the service is physician-supervised, that’s consistent with what Health Canada recognizes.
  • If a provider advertises hyperbaric oxygen as a treatment for conditions outside that list, Health Canada’s own guidance is to be skeptical and to raise it with a physician [1].
  • You can check whether a specific chamber is licensed using Health Canada’s Medical Devices Active Licence Listing (MDALL) [1].

A good question to bring to any provider — clinical or wellness — is simply: what exactly are you claiming this does, and does that match what Health Canada recognizes?

This is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend hyperbaric oxygen for any condition, and it does not endorse or criticize any individual provider. Speak with a physician about whether hyperbaric oxygen is appropriate for you.

References

  1. Health Canada — “Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy” (It’s Your Health). Recognized 14-condition list, device-licensing process, and cautions on unproven claims. https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/healthy-living/your-health/medical-information/hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy.html
  2. Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) — Approved indications for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (the reference list Health Canada points to). https://www.uhms.org/resources/hbo-indications.html
  3. Vancouver Coastal Health / Vancouver General Hospital — Hyperbaric unit, MSP-covered treatment for recognized conditions with referral. https://www.vch.ca/

All sources accessed May 2026. The 14-condition wording is quoted from Health Canada’s published page. Recognized indications are periodically updated by the UHMS; verify the current list before relying on it. Before publishing, have the health content reviewed (ideally by a clinical reviewer) per the site’s editorial standards.