What Researchers Did
Researchers reviewed 19 clinical trials to see whether breathing hyperbaric oxygen during radiotherapy helps treat cancer.
What They Found
This systematic review of 19 randomised trials (2,286 participants: 1,103 given HBOT, 1,153 controls) found that for head and neck cancer, HBOT during radiotherapy reduced the risk of dying at one year and five years after treatment (risk ratio 0.83, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.98 at one year; risk ratio 0.82, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.98 at five years, high-quality evidence), with some evidence of better local tumour control right after irradiation (risk ratio 0.58, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.85, moderate-quality evidence). However, this benefit came with a clear cost: severe radiation reactions were much more common with HBOT (risk ratio 2.64, 95% CI 1.65 to 4.2).
What This Means for Canadian Patients
For head and neck cancer patients, this review suggests HBOT combined with radiotherapy may lower the chance of dying, but this comes with a substantially higher risk of severe radiation side effects. Patients and their oncology teams would need to weigh this survival benefit against the increased harm before considering this approach.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
The review notes that HBOT's benefit for head and neck cancer came with a significantly higher rate of severe radiation reactions, meaning the overall balance of benefit and harm needs careful consideration rather than treating the survival finding alone as a recommendation.