1. Hyperbaric Oxygen for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

    March 17, 2013 by admin

    Article Courtesy of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy News

    Hyperbaric Oxygen for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): Systematic Review of the Medical Literature

    We are loath to recommend the work of such a controversial figure as Dr Daniel Rossignol. But his new systematic review and analysis of the medical literature on hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for inflammatory bowel disease is very helpful indeed.
    Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the chronic inflammation of all or part of the digestive tract, includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Rossignol’s review includes both human and animal models, touches on some of the physiologic mechanisms that may (or may not) be involved, and finds the published clinical evidence for HBOT stronger for Crohn’s than for ulcerative colitis:
    In the studies of Crohn’s disease, 78% of treated patients had an improvement with HBOT at a pressure ranging from 2.0 to 2.8 ATA. In the studies of ulcerative colitis, all treated patients showed improvements with a pressure delivered at 2.0 ATA. These studies suggest that a higher pressure may be needed to achieve these improvements. However, because none of these studies utilized a lower pressure of HBOT, it is not known if a lower pressure or oxygen level would be beneficial in IBD. However, some investigators have reported improvements in GI function in some children with autism using HBOT at 1.3 to 1.5 ATA [117,118]. Furthermore, previous studies have reported improvements in certain neurological conditions using hyperbaric treatment at lower pressures and/or oxygen levels [119-122]. Additional studies using HBOT at varying oxygen concentrations and atmospheric pressures would be helpful in determining optimal treatment protocols.

    This self-serving argument and the mild HBOT studies cited, 117-122, including Rossignol’s own widely discredited autism study, significantly weaken an otherwise fine review of the medical literature on this important topic.

    Category Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments

  2. Can hyperbaric oxygen therapy help autistic kids?

    April 14, 2012 by admin

    Courtesy of Scientific American

    Article by Jordan Light (March 13, 2009)

    You might be familiar with hyperbaric oxygen treatment, in which a patient breathes in extra oxygen while inside a pressurized chamber, as a therapy for the bends and carbon monoxide poisoning. But while a small segment of families with autistic children believe it helps their kids, insurance generally doesn’t pay for it, and many doctors are skeptical that it does any good.

    New research in today’s BMC Pediatrics may give the therapy more credibility as a treatment for autism. The randomized, double-blind controlled study of 62 children found that those who received 40 hours of treatment over a month were less irritable, more responsive when people spoke to them, made more eye contact and were more sociable than kids who didn’t receive it. They were also less sensitive to noise (some autistic children experience a kind of sensory overload from loud sounds and background noise). The most improvement was observed in kids older than five (the study included children ages two to seven) who had milder autism.

    It’s not clear why the treatment helped, says study co-author Dan Rossignol, a family physician at the International Child Development Resource Center in Melbourne, Fla., which treats children with developmental disorders. But the pressure may reduce inflammation believed to restrict blood flow to regions of autistic children’s brains that control speech, or improve its ability to absorb oxygen, he tells ScientificAmerican.com.

    “We’re not saying it’s a cure,” Rossignol said, “but … if you can improve understanding so a kid doesn’t run in front of a car, or improve sleep, that would be a benefit.”

    While the study only treated and tracked the children for four weeks, kids who receive the same number of sessions outside of research settings often remain better for longer, Rossignol says. Others get better after 80 sessions,  according to Robert Hendren, executive director of the University of California Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, a large autism research center. He adds that some parents also buy chambers (approved by the Food and Drug Administration) and give their children periodic “tune-ups” at home, though those treatments haven’t been studied.

    While most children tolerate the treatment well, it can cause claustrophobia, bruising of the eardrums, sinus pain and, rarely, seizures, Rossignol says.

    An estimated one in 150 children in the U.S. have autism in what some are calling an epidemic of the disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    Hendren, who wasn’t involved in the study, says the research was “well done” but that the findings need to be confirmed by others before before hyperbaric oxygen therapy is recommended as an autism treatment. He adds that the results will likely be used by doctors and parents petitioning insurers to pay for the treatment, which costs around  $120 to $150 per session and isn’t typically covered for autism. He speculates that 10 percent of autistic children are getting the therapy.

    “It’s going to cost a lot of money and yet if it works, it would be important to provide children with this kind of treatment,” Hendren tells ScientificAmerican.com. “It may help reverse, theoretically, some of the process that’s causing the autism.”

    Category Autism | Tags: , , , | No Comments