Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is well tolerated and effective for ulcerative colitis patients hospitalized for moderate-severe flares: a phase 2A pilot multi-center, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial.

What Researchers Did

Researchers conducted a randomised controlled trial to evaluate hyperbaric oxygen therapy as an adjunct to steroids for hospitalized patients with moderate-severe ulcerative colitis flares.

What They Found

A significantly higher proportion of HBOT-treated patients achieved clinical remission at study day 5 and 10 compared to the sham group (50% vs. 0%, p=0.04). Additionally, HBOT-treated patients less often required progression to second-line therapy during hospitalization (10% vs. 63%, p=0.04).

What This Means for Canadian Patients

For Canadian patients hospitalized with moderate-severe ulcerative colitis flares, hyperbaric oxygen therapy could potentially serve as an adjunctive treatment to steroids. This may help improve remission rates and reduce the need for second-line therapies like biologics or colectomy.

Canadian Relevance

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

Study Limitations

A major limitation of this study is its early termination due to poor recruitment, resulting in a very small sample size of only 18 patients.