What Researchers Did
Researchers randomly assigned 42 people with severe traumatic brain injury to receive either combined hyperbaric and normobaric oxygen therapy or standard care, then tracked brain chemistry, pressure, and recovery for six months.
What They Found
This randomized Phase II trial found that combined therapy, hyperbaric oxygen (60 minutes at 1.5 ATA) followed by normobaric hyperoxia (3 hours of 100% oxygen at 1.0 ATA), given once daily for 3 consecutive days, was associated with a 26% absolute reduction in mortality (p = 0.048) and a 36% absolute improvement in favorable outcomes on the Glasgow Outcome Scale (p = 0.024) compared to standard care. Brain tissue oxygen levels rose significantly during and after treatment (p less than 0.0001), and the treated group also showed significantly lower intracranial pressure (p less than 0.0006), lower microdialysate glycerol (p less than 0.001), and a lower lactate/pyruvate ratio in noninjured brain tissue (p = 0.0078). A marker of oxidative stress (CSF F2-isoprostane) was lower in the treated group at 6 hours but did not quite reach statistical significance (p = 0.0692).
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
This was a small, single Phase II trial of 42 patients, and one of its measured outcomes, the reduction in CSF F2-isoprostane, did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.0692).