Abstract:

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS), includes acute myocardial infarction and unstable angina, is common and may prove fatal. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) will improve oxygen supply to the threatened heart and may reduce the volume of heart muscle that perishes. The addition of HBOT to standard treatment may reduce death rate and other major adverse outcomes.This an update of a review previously published in May 2004 and June 2010. The aim of this review was to assess the evidence for the effects of adjunctive HBOT in the treatment of ACS. We compared treatment regimens including adjunctive HBOT against similar regimens excluding HBOT. Where regimens differed significantly between studies this is clearly stated and the implications discussed. All comparisons were made using an intention to treat analysis where this was possible. Efficacy was estimated from randomised trial comparisons but no attempt was made to evaluate the likely effectiveness that might be achieved in routine clinical practice. Specifically, we addressed:Does the adjunctive administration of HBOT to people with acute coronary syndrome (unstable angina or infarction) result in a reduction in the risk of death?Does the adjunctive administration of HBOT to people with acute coronary syndrome result in a reduction in the risk of major adverse cardiac events (MACE), that is: cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization by operative or percutaneous intervention?Is the administration of HBOT safe in both the short and long term? We updated the search of the following sources in September 2014, but found no additional relevant citations since the previous search in June 2010 (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and DORCTHIM. Relevant journals were handsearched and researchers in the field contacted. We applied no language restrictions. Randomised studies comparing the effect on ACS of regimens that include HBOT with those that exclude HBOT.

Bennett, Lehm, Jepson, , , , , , (2015). Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for acute coronary syndrome. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 2015 Jul;(7):CD004818. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26202854