Benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Traumatic Brain Injury
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has long been used for wound healing, decompression sickness, and carbon monoxide poisoning. However, recent research is starting to show how HBOT can help treat brain injuries including post-concussion, post stroke, PTSD, and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). According to the CDC, TBI is the leading cause of death and disability among children and young adults in the US. More than 5 million live with long term affects from a brain injury, and current treatments look to minimize symptoms with medications and therapies. Therefore, it is important to find safe and effective therapies that can not only decrease symptoms but also improve cognitive function.
Studies have shown benefit for not only recent brain injuries but also for injuries that occurred 10 or more years ago. How is this possible?
One theory is that there may be dormant neurons between dead ones and healthy ones, and once enough oxygen is delivered to this area, it can activate the dormant neurons making them active.
How does HBOT work? Imagine many fishing boats on a river packed full of fish, but to deliver the fish to the hungry people, the boats would have to dock at a port and unload the fish. Imagine problems at the port where boats could not dock and therefore could not deliver the fish. The boats would remain on the river full of fish, yet not be able to deliver the fish to hungry people. Now imagine that suddenly the river became so full of fish that they are even jumping out of the river onto land. Hungry people on the shores could use nets to catch the fish and do not have to rely on the delivery of fish from the boats.
In this analogy, the fish is oxygen, the boats are red blood cells, and the river is plasma. In a high pressure environment, oxygen is saturated into the plasma, just as fish are filled into the river. In a high pressure environment, oxygen can essentially saturate the plasma (fish in the river) even if red blood cells are saturated (boats filled with fish). The oxygen saturated plasma essentially “bathes” all the cells in oxygen. Oxygen provides metabolic energy to cells and allows cells to repair, regenerate, and become metabolically active.
This is how it works in the brain. Essentially HBOT therapy “bathes” the brain in oxygen allowing it to recover from damage caused by injury.
Studies have shown that 40-60 HBOT treatments at a pressure of at least 1.5 ATM and 100% oxygen can improve processing speed, attention, memory, and executive functioning.
Hyperbaric oxygen chambers at the Stram Center can achieve pressures up to 2.2 ATM. At higher pressures, more oxygen is saturated into plasma and delivered to cells. With minimal side effects, hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be a valuable part of the treatment protocol for any type of brain injury whether occurred recently or in the past.
Wisdom from a Fisherman
References
Boussi-Gross R, Golan H, Fishlev G, Bechor Y, Volkov O, et al. (2013) Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Can Improve Post-Concussion Syndrome Years after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury - Randomized Prospective Trial. PLoS ONE 8(11): e79995. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079995
https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticb...
Clinical Trial
J Neurotrauma actions
2012 Jan 1;29(1):168-85. doi: 10.1089/neu.2011.1895. Epub 2011 Nov 22.
A phase I study of low-pressure hyperbaric oxygen therapy for blast-induced post-concussion syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder
Paul G Harch 1 , Susan R Andrews, Edward F Fogarty, Daniel Amen, John C Pezzullo, Juliette Lucarini, Claire Aubrey, Derek V Taylor, Paul K Staab, Keith W Van Meter
Front Hum Neurosci
2017 Oct 19;11:508. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00508. eCollection 2017.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Can Induce Angiogenesis and Regeneration of Nerve Fibers in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients
Sigal Tal , Amir Hadanny , Efrat Sasson , Gil Suzin , Shai Efrati
Restor Neurol Neurosci
2015;33(6):943-51. doi: 10.3233/RNN-150585.
Hyperbaric oxygen may induce angiogenesis in patients suffering from prolonged post-concussion syndrome due to traumatic brain injury
Sigal Tal , Amir Hadanny , Nadav Berkovitz, Efrat Sasson, Eshel Ben-Jacob , Shai Efrati
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