Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Can Improve Post Concussion Syndrome Years after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury - Randomized Prospective Trial
Open Access
- 15 November 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 8 (11), e79995
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079995
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in the US. Approximately 70-90% of the TBI cases are classified as mild, and up to 25% of them will not recover and suffer chronic neurocognitive impairments. The main pathology in these cases involves diffuse brain injuries, which are hard to detect by anatomical imaging yet noticeable in metabolic imaging. The current study tested the effectiveness of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) in improving brain function and quality of life in mTBI patients suffering chronic neurocognitive impairments. The trial population included 56 mTBI patients 1–5 years after injury with prolonged post-concussion syndrome (PCS). The HBOT effect was evaluated by means of prospective, randomized, crossover controlled trial: the patients were randomly assigned to treated or crossover groups. Patients in the treated group were evaluated at baseline and following 40 HBOT sessions; patients in the crossover group were evaluated three times: at baseline, following a 2-month control period of no treatment, and following subsequent 2-months of 40 HBOT sessions. The HBOT protocol included 40 treatment sessions (5 days/week), 60 minutes each, with 100% oxygen at 1.5 ATA. “Mindstreams” was used for cognitive evaluations, quality of life (QOL) was evaluated by the EQ-5D, and changes in brain activity were assessed by SPECT imaging. Significant improvements were demonstrated in cognitive function and QOL in both groups following HBOT but no significant improvement was observed following the control period. SPECT imaging revealed elevated brain activity in good agreement with the cognitive improvements. HBOT can induce neuroplasticity leading to repair of chronically impaired brain functions and improved quality of life in mTBI patients with prolonged PCS at late chronic stage. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00715052Keywords
This publication has 72 references indexed in Scilit:
- Efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen treatment for depression in the convalescent stage following cerebral hemorrhageExperimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 2013
- Hyperbaric Oxygen Induces Late Neuroplasticity in Post Stroke Patients - Randomized, Prospective TrialPLOS ONE, 2013
- The Effect of Hyperbaric Oxygen on Symptoms after Mild Traumatic Brain InjuryJournal of Neurotrauma, 2012
- Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Acute Ischemic StrokeStroke, 2003
- Hyperbaric oxygen for children with cerebral palsy: a randomised multicentre trialThe Lancet, 2001
- EQ-SD: a measure of health status from the EuroQol GroupAnnals of Medicine, 2001
- Role of the cingulate gyrus during the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: a single photon emission computed tomography study in normal volunteersPsychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 1998
- A review of mild head trauma. part II: Clinical implicationsJournal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 1997
- Hyperbaric Oxygen in the Treatment of Acute Ischemic StrokeStroke, 1995
- A pilot study of hyperbaric oxygen in the treatment of human stroke.Stroke, 1991