Both growth hormone and hyperbaric oxygen therapy have been shown to increase growth factors and improve healing. This animal study looked at the effects of both, individually and combined, following surgery for ischemic colonic anastomoses. Combined therapy resulted in a favorable therapeutic effect on healing <view study> Read Less

Ever wonder why some people recover well from surgery and others can have long term implications including infections and even amputations. It is now clear that hypoxia (low oxygen levels) clearly effects the response and recovery following surgery. Local hypoxic conditions account for longer time for healing and greater susceptibility for infections. Treatments with hyperbaric oxygen therapy can reduce the hypoxia in the body and have a substantial effect on reducing negative clinical outcomes, along with shortening the healing time, and reducing chances of infection. Many plastic surgeons are now recognizing the benefits of HBOT in their discipline and referring for HBOT post-op. This is making for better and safer surgical procedures, along with less down time and hospitalization <view study> Read Less

This was one of the first trials that produced sound research to support the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for TBI sufferers. Much more importantly, they were able to demonstrate positive outcomes with this procedure, even 5 years after the accidents or traumas. The protocol used was a lower dose of only 1.5 ATA, but was repeated 5 days per week for a total of 8 weeks (40 hour protocol). Due to the late onset of the 40 hour hyperbaric protocol, researchers were able to conclude that "HBOT can induce neuroplasticity (new brain tissue) leading to repair of chronically impaired brain functions and improved quality of life in mTBI patients with prolonged PCS at late chronic stage" <view study> Read Less

For many years, hyperbaric pressures of only 1.04 ATA were considered to be insignificant in the hyperbaric field. Moreover, pressures as high as 1.3 ATA were considered to have no extra therapeutic value and even deemed to be the "placebo dose" in many studies trying to determine the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. We now have convincing evidence that this information is completely wrong! Over the past 2 decades, research has confirmed that these lower pressures actually can have large physiological benefits. From theory, to animal studies, and now to human studies; we can confirm that any pressures between 1.0 ATA and 1.3 ATA should all be considered hyperbaric therapy, delivering 'higher than normal' oxygen levels into the body. By obeying the gas-pressure laws of physics, any pressure above 1.0 ATA will allow extra oxygen to easily enter into the body. Therefore, any extra pressure is an extra dose of oxygen, and as the pressure increases, so does the extra dose of oxygen entering the body! Quite simply put, the purpose of hyperbaric oxygen therapy is to provide extra oxygen at levels above and beyond the body's natural means of getting this nutrient. Think of it as an "oxygen supplement." Every time you breathe inside an oxygen chamber, you are continuously taking another dose of the extra oxygen. This then is a real dose of extra oxygen, and therefore cannot be considered a placebo! In a recent publication, Paul Harch was able to very eloquently present these misconceptions in a detailed report rebutting a very poorly designed study published in the Journal of Neurotrauma. He was able to site numerous scientific documents validating the use of both low and very low pressures, clearly demonstrating that even pressures as low as 1.04 ATA had physiological effects. <view study>   Read Less

Major News -- A landmark study, in a mainstream and peer-reviewed hyperbaric medical journal has just been released, and it supports the use of lower pressure protocols for hyperbaric medicine. This is groundbreaking, because for over two decades now, there has been a constant and heated debate going on between hyperbaric physicians on the use of low pressure protocols, and whether or not they were as effective as higher pressures. Advocates of lower pressure protocols have clearly focused their opinion on the scientific rationale of the gas pressure laws of physics and say that ANY pressure will have a physiological effect - they also have growing support from empirical data. On the other hand, skeptics of lower pressure protocols say "where is the research", and they also quote that "most of the clinical research is at higher pressures". This study should finally put these to rest. Here, they looked at 3 different pressure protocols: 1.3 ATA (ambient air), 1.5 ATA (pure oxygen), and 1.75 ATA (pure oxygen). They then added all 3 pressure protocols to a standard intensive exercise program for CP children and followed them with for an 8-month period of time. The results were astonishing. Not only did they find that all 3 hyperbaric oxygen pressures gave significant improvements, but there was no difference between the pressures. More startling to skeptics of lower pressure protocols, the lower pressure protocol did not even use the conventional pure oxygen, and instead only used regular ambient air. Why this is groundbreaking is because typically in past studies, a lower pressure protocol using regular ambient air has been used as the placebo dose in studies. This is really the point of contention. The supporters of lower pressure protocols argue "how can you use 1.3 ATA ambient air as a placebo when the laws of physics clearly show that this is actually a treatment dosage" This study clearly supports their notion pressure is the key variable in hyperbaric oxygenation therapy. Pandoras box is open! <view study> Read Less