A 61-year-old right-handed male stoke patient was suffering from hemiparesis and physical weakness in the right upper limb for 2 years. He then underwent a course of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for 60 daily sessions at 2.0 ATA. Each session was 90 minutes and included two 5-minute air breaks. Following this simple 3 month course of HBOT, both clinical and objective hand motor improvements were observed and documented though functional brain imaging scans comparing both pre and post HBOT. From the fMRI data collected, researchers of this study were able to conclude that “HBOT induces brain plasticity and functional improvement in chronic post-stroke patients” <view study> Read Less

An estimated 15.1% of individuals suffer from Long Covid Syndrome (LCS) 3 months following severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, with symptoms continuing past 12 months. LCS symptoms commonly include persistent fatigue, mood swings, body pain, cognitive impairment, and ongoing respiratory problems. Other persistent symptoms can include headaches, mental disorders, gut issues, insomnia, hair loss, and smell/taste dysfunction. Treatment options are limited to symptomatic measures, and no specific medication has been established. Previous studies have shown that just 10 sessions of HBOT at 2.4 ATA caused a statistically significant improvement of fatigue, global cognition, executive function, attention, information processing and verbal function. In this study, 18 patients (aged 18-90) were given a short course of 10 hyperbaric sessions at 2.2 ATA and were followed up 3 months later for evaluation of LCS. The results were very promising and documented significant improvements in energy levels, physical functioning, emotional well being, social functioning and improvement in limitation of activities <view study> Read Less

This pilot study followed 9 patients diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis who each received 30 hyperbaric oxygen treatments over six to 10 weeks. Follow up MRI scans at both 3 months and at 6 months showed beneficial response to this procedure. These findings support an earlier pilot study that documented improvement in "disease activity and joint pain as determined by multiple, validated clinical measures".  The findings of this study suggest that "hyperbaric oxygen therapy  may be useful as an adjunctive or alternative treatment to disease-modifying drugs for rheumatoid arthritis" <view study> Read Less

COVID-19 brings along an ever-growing concern for infected patients who have recovered from the acute phase of the viral infection. These individuals are now suffering from the long-term adverse health effects as a result. These long-term complications (aka long COVID-19), have been shown to affect everyone; including the chronically-sick, the healthy, and even the professional athlete. “Long COVID-19 patients show systemic inflammation and persistent symptoms such as fatigue and malaise, profoundly affecting their quality of life” Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been shown to help the body produce a strong anti-inflammatory response that may be able to help combat Long Covid and provide symptomatic relief. This study evaluated 5 subjects, (2 patients and 3 athletes) undergoing HBOT for 30 sessions and all 5 showed attenuation of inflammatory biomarkers, particularity the 2 athletes. “From this preliminary observation, HBOT could be considered a potential treatment for long COVID-19 patients.” <view study> Read Less

Resistive thin endometrium can cause many complications during pregnancy including miscarriages along with lower pregnancy rates in fertility treatments like IVF. Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) is another fertility treatment that has less favorable outcomes with thin endometrium. There have been reports that hyperbaric oxygen therapy can effectively increase endometrial thickness and thus help support the pregnancy process. Researchers in this study gave a simple course of daily hyperbaric oxygen sessions at 2.5 ATA for 10 days. This was done prior to endometrial transformation for FET and led to a significantly thicker endometrial thickness on the day of the endometrium transformation <view study>   Read Less