What is hyperbaric oxygen therapy?

Oxygen, which is crucial for life, represents only a small percentage of each breath you take. To get more oxygen dissolved in your blood, doctors might fortify the air you breathe with more oxygen or they might stick you in a chamber to increase the air pressure (atmospheric pressure) or both.

Doctors may prescribe hyperbaric oxygen for a variety of maladies. Research has shown the resultant increased oxygen in your blood may decrease inflammation, increase the release of beneficial hormonal growth factors and activate stem cells.

You have to be careful, though: too much oxygen for too long a time can be toxic to your lungs and brain and high pressure may damage your eardrums.

Hyperbaric oxygen and stroke

In 2020, Israeli researchers analyzed multiple previous studies, which had been performed throughout the world. All in all, scientists reviewed the medical data on more than 160 patients who had suffered strokes. The patients were about three months into their recovery when hyperbaric oxygen treatment started. The patients were provided with almost pure oxygen (90 - 100%), delivered at twice the normal pressure. They were stuffed in the hyperbaric chamber ninety minutes a day, five days a week for two or three months. The treated patients enjoyed significant improvement in movement, memory and thinking ability.

Hyperbaric oxygen and autism

When it comes to hyperbaric oxygen treatment for children with autism, it’s a duel of the Polish scientists:

In 2020, one group of Polish scientists subjected thirty-nine children with autism to hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The therapy was delivered at one and a half times normal pressure. The children were stuffed in the hyperbaric chamber sixty minutes a day, five days a week, for two months. After completion of treatment, the children were judged to be more social, more imaginative, more adaptable to change, less irritated by noise and less verbally repetitive.

In 2021, a different group of Polish scientists undertook a review of the medical literature, which comprised fourteen studies. They reported hyperbaric oxygen therapy revealed no evidence of effectiveness for children with autism.

Hyperbaric oxygen and brain trauma

In 2020, Chinese researchers studied the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on forty-four patients who’d suffered severe brain injury and compared the results to a cohort who underwent standard care alone. The patients who were treated with hyperbaric oxygen were more likely to emerge from coma. The treated group also benefited from a more normal sensory function and a greater ability to move.

In 2016, a different group of Chinese scientists reviewed the medical literature regarding hyperbaric oxygen treatment for brain injury. They discovered treated patients were more likely to survive a severe brain trauma and more likely to recover sufficient neurologic function to live independently.

In 2015, Israeli scientists evaluated the effects of hyperbaric oxygen on patients with post-concussive syndrome (some more than ten years after the brain trauma). Treated patients enjoyed better and quicker thinking and improved coordination. Specialized MRI studies demonstrated new ingrowth of blood vessels in the treated patients’ brains.

From Brain to Mind

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy & your brain