What Researchers Did
Researchers reviewed medical records of cancer patients who received hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to check whether it caused unsafe changes in blood test results, including patients also taking chemotherapy or herbal medicine.
What They Found
This retrospective study of 259 cancer patients who underwent 2,692 HBOT sessions found only 2 mild treatment-related adverse events (0.07%) and no serious or life-threatening events. Among 207 patients with before-and-after lab results, most blood and chemistry values stayed stable, but platelet count dropped modestly by 16 x10^3 per microliter and plateletcrit fell by 0.01%, both statistically significant (p less than 0.001), though average levels for the group remained within normal reference ranges. In further analysis, chemotherapy use was independently linked to lower white blood cell and neutrophil counts, and herbal medicine use to a small reduction in eosinophils.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
This was a retrospective, single-center study, so it can show associations but not prove that HBOT, chemotherapy, or herbal medicine directly caused the observed blood changes.