Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

We all depend on a steady supply of oxygen to keep us both alive and well. But what happens when oxygen is literally forced into bodily tissues under pressure (Hyperbaric oxygen therapy or HBOT)? This question was first addressed experimentally in 1662 when a curious and inventive British clergyman and physician named Henshaw treated people with compressed normal air in a sealed chamber he had built for this purpose. He used this apparatus to treat many different ailments but was especially keen on tackling pulmonary diseases. Some mark Henshaw's work as the birth of HBOT.

It was not, however, until over a century later in 1788 that compressed hyperbaric air was put to large scale use, principally for industrial and deep sea applications. Its medical use resurfaced in 1834 when a French doctor named Junod had the world's first hyperbaric tank constructed and began treating patients suffering from a variety of debilitating diseases. The responses were in some instances so profound that Dr. Junod began writing articles about this in the Bulletin of the Academy of Medicine. Within forty year's time enthusiasm for hyperbaric oxygen therapy had spread all over Europe and then reached America in 1860.

Like most things in medicine, HBOT picked up speed in terms of its testing and use in lockstep with the growth and expansion of technology and research methods. It was, in fact, subjected to extensive research and use by the U.S. Military after World War I, and was also employed during the 1930's to help treat deep sea divers with decompression sickness.

HBOT took its present form once pure oxygen was successfully and safely utilized back in the 1950s. Since that time the general medical consensus of opinion is that HBOT is effective for such things as decompression sickness ("bends"), cyanide and carbon monoxide poisoning, anemia associated with sudden blood loss, burns, problem wounds, and bone infections that won't heal up. It is also being evaluated in formal experiments for such things as bites from the brown recluse spider, leprosy, severe head injuries, intestinal obstruction, heart attacks and necrosis (tissue die-off) of the head of the femur (Upper thigh bone.)

More controversial is the use of HBOT "off label" to treat autism, chronic and acute stroke, multiple sclerosis, macular degeneration, neuropathy and cerebral palsy. Critics tend to characterize this as improper if not worse. Proponents point out that definitive studies are largely lacking with respect to HBOT and many of these conditions, while in instances in which studies were carried out they were flawed. In addition, many doctors who have been doing HBOT for conditions such as chronic stroke appear to get clinically significant results in a subset of patients, but as-of-yet appear to lack sufficient case history data to identify those likely to be good responders verse those who are nominal or non-responders. This suggests that the promise of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for these sorts of conditions and many yet to be tackled is still very much an open book.

Dr. Anthony G. Payne holds earned degrees in physical anthropology (B.S., M.A.) and doctorates in nutritional medicine (N.M.D., Aksem Oriental Medical School, Manila, Philippines) and psychology (Ph.D., St. Mark's Catholic College & Seminary). He has been involved in clinical, bench and product development work since 1986, taught in universities and various educational institutes and companies in Japan, authored numerous papers and articles, wrote several books and co-authored "Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Therapy" (2006) with Dr. David A. Steenblock and "Health Benefits of Vitamin K2" (2008) with Larry M. Howard. Dr. Payne is a 25+ year member of the international High IQ society MENSA and is a Bureau of Indian Affairs certified American Indian and tribal member of the Choctaw Nation. He and his Japanese wife, Sachi, live in southern California.

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