Basic physiology of hyperbaric oxygen in brain.

Abstract: Oxygen is the proverbial 'double-edged sword' in that it is a necessity for life in moderation and toxic and detrimental to life in excess. This too is the dilemma in hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment in cerebral ischemic-anoxic insults such as stroke, head...

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A review of oxygen therapy in ischemic stroke.

Abstract: Neuroprotective drugs have so far failed clinical trials, at high cost, and intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (i.v. tPA) remains the only FDA-approved acute stroke therapy. Hyperoxia, acting via multiple direct and indirect mechanisms, may be a...

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Hyperbaric oxygen treatment is comparable to acetylsalicylic acid treatment in an animal model of arthritis.

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the United States are affected by the pain, disability, and decreased quality of life associated with arthritis. The primary focus of treatment is on reducing joint inflammation and pain through a variety of pharmacotherapies, each of which is associated with various side effects. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an alternative treatment that has been recommended to treat a variety of inflammatory diseases, ranging from chronic brain injury to exercise induced muscle soreness. The purpose of this set of experiments was to explore the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on joint inflammation and mechanical hyperalgesia in an animal model of arthritis, and compare these effects to treatment with aspirin. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy significantly reduced both joint inflammation and hyperalgesia. As compared with aspirin treatment, hyperbaric treatment was equally as effective in decreasing joint inflammation and hyperalgesia. This article reports that hyperbaric oxygen treatment decreases pain and inflammation in an animal model of arthritis. The effect of hyperbaric oxygen treatment is very similar in magnitude to the effect of acetylsalicylic acid treatment. Potentially, hyperbaric oxygen could be used to treat pain and inflammation in patients with arthritis.

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