PLEASE NOTE: Our facility does NOT treat acute stroke patients! Call 911 and get to a hospital!! A suspected STROKE is A MEDICAL EMERGENCY and needs immediate attention that only a hospital can provide.
If you’ve been following our blog, you’ve read about how Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can help to protect your brain and lessen your chances of having a stroke. You’ve also seen some amazing information about HBOT treatment after a stroke, even years after a stroke, repairing damage, restoring health and quality of life. What we haven’t talked about yet is the use of HBOT in the “Acute” stage – immediately after a stroke.
As you might imagine, conducting a standard clinical trial in life-threatening, emergency situations can be impossible, although there have been a few. Studies using animals have been more common and highly informative. Studies on HBOT for acute stroke indicate (as most Stroke studies do) that there is ‘magic window’ for treatment that is critical. For common medical interventions with acute stroke patients, this ‘window’ opens when the stroke occurs and closes between one and three hours afterwards.
One of the first published studies on HBOT treatment for acute stroke reflected this. Patients undergoing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy within the first few hours were dramatically or completely recovered. As the time between stroke occurrence and HBOT increased, recovery rates decreased.
Laboratory studies – where a stroke can be induced and observed without risk to human life – have produced overwhelmingly positive results in the areas of stroke prevention/protection, acute stroke, and post-stroke recovery.
As an acute stroke treatment, HBOT has shown NO negative effects and has enhanced the effectiveness of commonly used medications – with no side-effects.
Top HBOT researchers question the logic of the traditional medical community who dismiss the benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, (see this post {put link here to ‘Show me the Science’ blog}).
Dr. Shai Efrati, Director of The Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research, writes, “Clinical studies published this year (2017) present convincing evidence that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) might be the coveted neurotherapeutic method for brain repair. One can surmise that HBOT could also be effective in early stages of vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions.”
“Traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke and age-related metabolic brain disorders are the major causes of brain damage and chronic neurological impairments. Today, there is no agreed-upon effective metabolic treatment/intervention in the routine clinical practice for TBI and stroke patients with chronic neurological dysfunction.
Intensive therapy and rehabilitation programs are valuable for improving quality of life right after brain injury, but often provide only partial relief and leave the patients chronically disabled. With the aging of the population, the severity of the problems posed by stroke, TBI (mainly due to home accidents) and metabolic disorders (which can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease) is expected to increase. Experts agree that novel neurotherapeutic methods to repair and protect the brain from damage caused by these insults are needed more than ever before.”
Interested in learning more? The experts at Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy of Western New York can answer your questions and address any concerns you may have. Visit us at www.02wny.com or call us: (585) 426-8969
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