What Researchers Did
Researchers injected human fat tissue into mice and gave some of the mice hyperbaric oxygen therapy for different lengths of time to see if it helped the injected fat survive better.
What They Found
This animal study found that at least part of the injected fat survived in every group, whether or not the mice received hyperbaric oxygen, and there was no significant difference between groups in the weight or volume of the fat grafts. Tissue examination did show significantly better fat tissue integrity in the group that received hyperbaric oxygen for 5 days (p = 0.047). Each group had 10 animals, and the mice received daily hyperbaric oxygen sessions of 100% oxygen at 2 ATA for 90 minutes, for a total of 5, 10, or 15 days depending on the group. Grafts were examined 15 weeks after the fat was injected.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
The study was conducted in mice rather than humans, used small group sizes of 10 animals each, and found a significant result only in tissue integrity, not in the more direct measures of graft weight or volume.