Stroke & Hyperbaric Therpay

A stroke is an episode in which a blockage occurs anywhere within the brain, cutting off blood,oxygen and nutrient supply for more than a minute.Sometimes, strokes can last for days. If left untreated, a stroke can be deadly.

Unfortunately,even with treatment, some patients may still die within a year or more from the lingering effects of the stroke event.

Depending on where the stroke occurred in the brain, the patient may experience a complete or partial loss of function to their limbs, cognition,or both, due to leftover inflammation and lack of oxygen.

Some patients may lose the ability to talk, walk,execute fine motor skills, and may also experience pain or nerve tingling in the affected body parts.

Stroke

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy has been utilized during the emergency phase of strokes, as well as for the long-term damage after strokes.

According to research, in order for a patient to utilize HBOT during a stroke event,they would ideally begin treatment within 3-6 hours of the initial injury.

The pressurized oxygen can reduce the inflamma-tion at the source of the bleed. It may also prevent the brain from having any long-term damage due to the lack of further inflammation in the tissues.

If a paient is unable to treat their acute stroke with hyperbaric therapy, they may stil see benefits from the modality, even decades after the event.Increased oxygen to the brain may reduce residual neuroinflammation and allow for more blood flow to the damaged tissues. This can lead to partial or full repair of the brain.

Research from Dr. Paul Harch,and others has shown that there may not be time limitations on repairing damaged brain tissue.

Patients have reported regaining full mobility and cognition after a series of hyperbaric treatments,even years after the initial event.

Hyperbaric oxygen induces late neuroplasticity in post stroke patients--randomized,prospective trial

Shai Efrati, Gregori Fishlev, Yair Bechor,Olga Volkov,Jacob Bergan,Kostantin Kliakhandler,Izhak Kamiager,Nachum Gal,Mony Friedman,Eshel Ben-Jacob,Haim Golan Published Jan 2013

Background: Recovery after stroke correlates with non-active (stunned) brain regions, which may persist for years. The current study aimed to evaluate whether increasing the level of dissolved oxygen by Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)could activate neuroplasticity in patients with chronic neurologic deficiencies due to stroke.

Methods and findings: A prospective,randomized, controlled trial including 74 patients (15 were excluded). All participants suffered a stroke 6-36 months prior to inclusion and had at least one motor dysfunction. After inclusion,patients were randomly assigned to "treated"or "cross" groups. Brain activity was assessed by SPECT imaging; neurologic functions were evaluated by NIHSS, ADL, and life quality.

Conclusions: The results indicate that HBOT can lead to significant neurological improvements in post stroke patients even at chronic late stages.The observed clinical improvements imply that neuroplasticity can still be activated long after damage onset in regions where there is a brain SPECT/CT (anatomy/physiology) mismatch.