This study looked at 39 women who received hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to help with wound healing after reconstructive breast surgery, finding that about three-quarters of them had favorable healing results. Importantly, good outcomes were more likely when HBOT was started sooner after surgery and with fewer sessions, and healing success did not depend on factors like age, weight, or smoking. However, half of the patients who had prior breast radiation did not heal well. For someone considering HBOT after breast reconstruction, this suggests it could be a helpful option to support healing, especially if started early, but it may be less effective if you’ve had previous radiation. Keep in mind that the study wasn’t compared against a control group, so more research is needed to confirm how well HBOT actually works in these cases <view study> Read Less

Radiation therapy saves countless lives, but it can leave a lasting legacy: months or years later, some survivors develop chronic tissue damage in the areas that were treated — painful, slow-healing injuries to bone, bladder, or bowel that standard care struggles to fix. As cancer survival improves and more people live long after treatment, managing these late effects becomes an increasingly important quality-of-life issue. This review, published in a leading cancer journal, is significant for clarifying where HBOT genuinely helps. The strongest evidence was for jawbone damage after head-and-neck radiation (osteoradionecrosis), radiation cystitis (bladder), and radiation proctitis (rectum), where HBOT — typically delivered at 2.0–2.5 ATA for 90–120 minutes, daily, 5 times a week — can promote healing and improve quality of life. For survivors living with these hard-to-treat injuries, it is a well-supported option worth raising with their oncology team. <view study> Read Less

Lymphedema is a common complication following treatment for breast cancer, which negatively affects quality of life (QOL). This study looked at 19 women who presented with lymphedema 1 year after breast cancer treatment and offered them 40 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy over a 2 month period of time. They then followed up with these women 6 months later to evaluate any changes in quality of life. The results were promising and the participants reported significant improvements in QOL. These improvement included; physical functioning, fatigue, insomnia and breast and arm symptoms. with improvements peaking at 6-month follow-up <view study> Read Less

Natural killer cells (NK) are an important part of the innate immune system that can find, target and kill cancer cells NATURALLY! This crossover randomized control trial was conducted with 16 healthy young women to investigate the effect of mild hyperabric oxygen therapy (m-HBOT) on natural killer (NK)) cells. The results found that m-HBOT at 1.4 ATA was effectively able to increase NK cells by regulating parasympathetic activity <view study> Read Less

The emergence of cancer immunotherapy has already shown some remarkable results for the treatment of solid tumors. As good as this is, patients seem to lack the ability to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors, thus demonstrating a primary resistance to immunotherapy. By reducing tumor hypoxia (low oxygen) within solid tumors. hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can help reinvigorate anti-cancer immunity. In this study, HBOT was able to stimulate a suppressed immune system and help PD-1 Ab trigger robust cytotoxic T lymphocytes and long-lasting immunological memory to inhibit tumor relapses. Emerging research suggests that T cell-directed checkpoint antibodies such as anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) or programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) can impact innate immunity by both direct and indirect pathways, which may ultimately shape clinical efficacy. Normally, the immune system fights foreign substances like viruses and bacteria, and not your own healthy cells. Some cancer cells have high amounts of PDL1. This allows the cancer cells to "trick" the immune system, and avoid being attacked as foreign, harmful substances.. Hyperbaric Oxygen Boosts PD-1 Antibody Delivery -- "The results illustrate that HBO bolsters antitumor efficacy of PD-1 Ab, and the HBO-PD-1 Ab combination is a promising stroma-rich solid tumors' treatment in the clinic" <view study> Read Less