This well-controlled study shows no benefit — but suggests a large placebo effect associated with the hyperbaric tank.
Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy provides high oxygen levels at an increased atmospheric absolute pressure (ATA). Hypothesizing that HBO2 can help functionally retrievable neurons return to normal function, clinicians throughout the U.S. are administering it to patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, no treatment study has used an appropriate placebo control — a hyperbaric tank supplying normal oxygen content and pressure. This single-center, double-blind HBO2 study, one of several funded by the U.S. departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, uses this sham control.
Participants were 50 active-duty military service members with postconcussion syndrome after mild TBI (a neurologist confirmed diagnoses, including review of medic…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)