BRAIN INJURIES IMPROVE WITH HYPERBARIC OXYGEN

According to Texas researchers, after undergoing a series of hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments, patients with long-standing traumatic brain injury show a general improvement of speech, memory and attention. Dr. Paul Harch and colleagues presented their findings in Seattle at the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Annual Scientific Meeting.

The new study included 11 patients from The Transitional Learning Community in Galveston, Texas. All were at least 3 years post-brain injury. The patients underwent a series of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans to determine whether blood flow in the brain could be altered by hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a technique in which patients breathe pure oxygen in a chamber with a higher-than-normal atmospheric pressure.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is commonly used to treat divers with decompression sickness, people suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, diabetic and other wounds. Initially, five of the patients had 80 sessions in a hyperbaric unit. After a 5-month rest period, those five patients underwent another 40 hyperbaric sessions. The remaining six patients, serving as controls, did not undergo hyperbaric oxygen therapy. There was no change in the blood flow of the six control patients during the study period. However, patients who did receive the hyperbaric oxygen therapy showed increased blood flow in specific areas of the brain, as well as improvements in speech and memory functions. The improvements in these patients peaked at 80 hyperbaric oxygen sessions.

nvestigators also used the therapy sessions to treat individuals with stroke, cerebral palsy, and dementia. Near-drowning and chronic carbon monoxide poisoning patients were also treated. Those patients were treated a year after the brain injury occurred. Patients with the least loss of function following injury show the greatest improvement with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a non-specific treatment that seems to be appropriate in many different forms of brain injury.

JUST THINKIN': Brain injury treatment options are very limited. If you know someone who suffered a stroke, traumatic brain injury or has cerebral Palsy, there is a great likelihood that this type of treatment would be beneficial.

Tell folks. They need to know.

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Research on Closed Head Injury & HBOT

Neubauer, RA et al. (1994). Hyperbaric Oxygen for treatment of closed head injury. Southern Medical Journal, vol. 87, #9, p 933-36.

Neubauer, RA et al. (1990). Enhancing idling neurons. The Lancet; vol 335, p542.

Holbach KH et al. (1978). EEG analysis for evaluating chronic cerebral ischemia treated by HBO and microneurosurgery. Journal of Neurology; vol 219,p227-240.

Haapaniemi et al. (1998). HBO treatment enhances regeneration of the rat sciatic nerve. Experimental Neurology; vol 149, p433-438.

Omae, T et al. (1998). Effects of high atmospheric pressure & oxygen on middle cerebral blood flow velocity in humans measured by transcranial doppler. Stroke; vol 29, p94-97.

Rockswold, GL et al. (1992). Results of a prospective randomized trial for treatment of severely brain-injured patients with HBO. J. Neurosurg.; vol 76, p929-934.

Holbach KH et al. (1977) Cerebral energy metabolism in patients with brain lesions at normo and hyperbaric oxygen pressures. J. Neurol.; vol 217, p17-30.

Neubauer, RA & James, P (1998). Cerebral oxygenation and the recoverable brain. Nerol Res; vol 20 (suppl 1), p 33-36.