What Researchers Did
Researchers tested whether adding hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to standard care could help patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
What They Found
In this randomized clinical trial of 28 patients with moderate to severe COVID-19, 3 patients in the control group died while none died in the group that received 5 HBOT sessions of 60 minutes each. Patients who received HBOT needed less supplemental oxygen than the control group. Blood tests showed the HBOT group had lower levels of CRP, ferritin, and LDH (markers of inflammation) and higher levels of CD3 (a marker of immune T cells) compared to control. No adverse events led to stopping HBOT treatment in any patient who received it.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
For Canadian patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia, these early results suggest HBOT added to standard care was tolerated well enough that no one needed to stop treatment due to side effects, and it was linked to lower oxygen needs and markers of reduced inflammation. Because this was a small trial, these findings point to a direction worth studying further rather than an established treatment.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
The trial included only 28 patients, a small sample size that limits how confidently these results can be applied to COVID-19 patients in general.