HBOT Helps Heal Stroke Patients and Induces Neuroplacticity

Bay Area Hyperbarics has treated hundreds of stroke patients over the last 20 years, with consistent improvements to patients’ quality of life. On the more remarkable side of the spectrum, we observed patients who could not walk, and who were showing no signs of improvement before HBOT, regain the ability to walk upstairs without assistance. Others improved their speech so they could return to work. Yet others regained the ability to read, and others to think clearly and articulate thoughts when previously they were unable. Some patients though experienced more mild improvements, such as improved strength and balance, the ability to assist in transferring from bed to a wheelchair, or to push up from a wheelchair and stand without assistance.

In one recent randomized and controlled study^[1], participants showed increases in brain regeneration and in their quality of life indices. Participants’ strokes occurred as few as six months and as many as 36 months prior to the study. Participants in this study were treated with 40 sessions, five days per week over eight weeks.

Of the 57 participants who underwent HBOT, 43% to 55% showed significant improvements, while 29% to 35% showed mild improvements. Overall, 72% of the patients had mild to significant improvements.

Some of those improvements included participants being able to move previously paralyzed fingers, dress themselves, shop and cook. One of the patients who could barely walk regained the ability to climb stairs. She could also feed herself, and she regained speech and reading abilities.

Researchers in this study worked with stroke patients who were no longer improving. Before administering HBOT, researchers analyzed each participants’ brain using CT scans to identify necrotic tissue. They also used SPECT scans to assess the metabolic activity level of neurons surrounding damaged areas. They then administered the same scans after 40 HBOT treatments. In short, they found that HBOT restored significant neurological function in brain tissue that had appeared chronically damaged. In contrast, participants who received no HBOT did not demonstrate any improvement. Because this was a crossover study, the non-HBOT group later received HBOT, and showed the same improvements as the initial experimental group. Pre- versus post- images of the brain demonstrated improvements in blood supply and the increased viability of damaged tissue. They found that idling neurons in many areas again became active. Researchers confirmed that administering oxygen under pressure increases oxygenation in brain tissues by between 10 and 400 times, even into areas of necrotic tissue. This increased oxygen infused into the brain appears to speed up the process of neuroplasticity, as well as angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels to areas previously not receiving sufficient oxygen).

Numerous studies have shown the importance of increased oxygen to the brain after acute ischemia or stoke, and on the value of hyperbaric oxygen in particular. The research to-date proves promising, with few, if any, adverse effects.

For example, numerous studies have suggested that the oxygen supply to blood vessels in stroke-affected areas is severely restricted, leading to oxygen deficiency ^[6], ^[7]. Such decreased oxygen levels not only cause a reduction in neuronal activity, but also prevent angiogenesis to replace the stroke-damaged blood vessels and the generation of new synaptic connections. They stress the importance of a high oxygen supply to repair stunned regions of the brain. Several previous studies have shown that an increase in dissolved oxygen has several beneficial effects in damaged brain tissues ^[8],^[9],^[10],^[11],^[12], ^[13].

When patients breathe oxygen under pressure (hyperbaric oxygen therapy), it increases arterial oxygen tension as well as brain oxygen tension ^[13],^[14],^[15]. It also facilitates the flow of blood-dissolved oxygen across the blood-brain barrier. At the minimum then, it is reasonable to expect that HBOT can be an effective method of increasing oxygen to brain tissues, and evoking neuroplasticity, angiogenesis in non-active areas, and increased neuronal activity after a stroke.