Hyperbaric oxygen therapy ameliorates intestinal and systematic inflammation by modulating dysbiosis of the gut microbiota in Crohn's disease.

What Researchers Did

Researchers conducted an open-label prospective interventional study to investigate how hyperbaric oxygen therapy affects gut microbiota and inflammation in 20 Crohn's disease patients.

What They Found

They found that hyperbaric oxygen therapy significantly reduced C-reactive protein from 80.79 mg/L to 33.32 mg/L (P=0.004) and the Crohn's Disease Activity Index from 274.87 to 221.54 (P=0.044). The therapy also improved microbial diversity, decreasing *Escherichia* while increasing *Bifidobacterium* and *Clostridium XIVa*, and was safe and well-tolerated.

Canadian Relevance

This study has no direct Canadian connection as it was not conducted in Canada or by Canadian researchers.

Study Limitations

A significant limitation of this study is its small sample size of only 10 patients per group and its open-label design.