What Researchers Did
Doctors tested hyperbaric oxygen therapy in over 2,000 patients with artery disease in the legs and measured blood flow changes using a device called a plethysmograph.
What They Found
This clinical study followed 2,021 patients with limb arteriopathy treated with hyperbaric oxygen at 2 to 2.4 ATA, one hour per session, one or two sessions a day, for a total of 30 sessions, between 1966 and 1983. Plethysmography showed that in 40% of cases, blood shifted from healthy vasoconstricted areas toward hypoxic areas that were not responding to treatment. The extra oxygen added to the blood also produced zones of ischemia (reduced blood supply) in some tissue. No complications were observed with this technique.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
The study spans 17 years without a described control group or statistical testing, relies on plethysmography readings rather than clinical outcomes, and its finding of oxygen-related ischemic zones in some tissue raises questions the abstract does not resolve.