Modification of in vivo and in vitro TNF-alpha, IL-1, and IL-6 secretion by circulating monocytes during hyperbaric oxygen treatment in patients with perianal Crohn's disease.

What Researchers Did

Researchers investigated the effect of daily hyperbaric oxygen treatment on IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-alpha secretion by circulating monocytes in seven patients with perianal Crohn's disease over one month.

What They Found

Pretreatment cytokine levels were elevated in patients compared to 10 age-matched controls. During the first 7 days of 20 HBO sessions, levels of IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-alpha in LPS-stimulated monocytes decreased, while serum IL-1 initially rose then fell, remaining low for the first week. After completing therapy, cytokine levels increased back to pretreatment values.

Canadian Relevance

There is no direct Canadian connection identified for this study.

Study Limitations

A significant limitation of this study is the very small sample size of only seven patients, which restricts the generalizability of the findings.