Can HBOT Stimulate Cancer? Some people wonder: If hyperbaric oxygen therapy stimulates cell reproduction, could it also stimulate growth of cancer cells? It is a thoughtful concern, so there have been many researchers and published studies by oncologists and others that show HBOT does not cause cancer cells or tumors to grow or multiply. That means that HBOT will not stimulate cancer recurrence or growth. They wrote “the conclusion in both reviews was that HBO did not promote cancer growth, and that the use of HBO in patients with malignancies was considered safe.” Target Oncol. 2012 Dec; 7(4): 233–242. In fact, some recent studies in mice have shown that hyperbaric oxygen therapy can reduce and even reverse the growth of tumors in the breast. At this point, more data is required to confirm such a hypothesis, but the data appears promising!