What Researchers Did
Researchers reviewed the evidence on whether adding hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to standard intensive care helps people recover from traumatic brain injury.
What They Found
This Cochrane review found that combining HBOT with standard care was associated with a lower risk of an unfavourable outcome (relative risk 0.74) and a lower risk of death (relative risk 0.69), meaning one additional death was prevented for roughly every 7 patients treated. Patients who received HBOT also showed improvement on the Glasgow Coma Scale, a measure of brain injury severity. However, about 13% of patients who received HBOT experienced pulmonary (lung-related) complications.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
As a systematic review, its conclusions depend on the quality, size, and risk of bias of the trials it pooled together, details which are not fully specified here.