Does hyperbaric oxygen therapy improve the survival and quality of life in patients with traumatic brain injury?
Traumatic brain injury is a major cause of death and disability. Not all damage to the brain occurs at the moment of injury; reduction of the blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain can occur afterwards and cause further secondary brain damage, which is itself an important cause of avoidable death and disability. In the early stages after injury it is therefore important that efforts are made to minimise secondary brain damage to provide the best chances of recovery. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been proposed as a treatment for minimising secondary brain damage by improving the oxygen supply to the brain. Patients undergoing HBOT are placed inside a specially designed chamber in which 100% oxygen is delivered at a greater than normal atmospheric pressure. It is sometimes used as a treatment to increase the supply of oxygen to the injured brain, in an attempt to reduce the area of brain that will die. The effectiveness of HBOT on the recovery of brain-injured patients is uncer
