Hyperbaric oxygen treatment: Results in seven patients with severe bacterial postoperative central nervous system infections and refractory mucormycosis

What Researchers Did

Portuguese neurosurgeons reviewed outcomes for seven patients with treatment-resistant infections of the brain or spine, including post-surgical bacterial infections and spontaneous fungal infections (mucormycosis), who received HBOT after an average of four prior operations and five months of antibiotics had failed.

What They Found

Six of seven patients achieved infection resolution after completing HBOT. The one patient who stopped after 3 sessions due to intolerance did not resolve. Three patients discontinued antimicrobials entirely; four continued on preventive doses. Median follow-up was 20 months.

Canadian Relevance

No direct Canadian connection identified.

Study Limitations

Seven patients in a retrospective case series is too small to draw firm conclusions, and the absence of a control group makes it impossible to know how many patients might have resolved without HBOT.