Hyperbaric chamber team to study traumatic-brain-injury treatment
Posted 11/7/2008 Updated 11/14/2008
by Master Sgt. Kimberly A. Yearyean-Siers
59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
11/7/2008 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- A
team with the San Antonio Military Medical Center Hyperbaric Center and
the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine received funding to study
the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on mild to moderate traumatic
brain injuries.
Researchers hope to find additional ways to treat wounded warriors with
traumatic brain injuries using the hyperbaric center, located at
Wilford Hall Medical Center, or SAMMC-South, here.
Traumatic brain injury is common with head injuries caused by blows to
the head, nearby explosions, concussion or penetrating wounds. These
types of injuries have become relatively common in U.S. military forces
who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Treatment of traumatic brain
injury normally relies on traditional rehabilitative and retraining
strategies or on the use of drugs to reduce symptoms, such as
depression and anxiety.
The Air Force study will try to determine if hyperbaric oxygen therapy
improves the cognitive function of individuals who have had traumatic
brain injury. Cognitive function includes such things as thinking,
remembering, recognition, concentration ability and perception.
Oxygen is a vital component in the body's healing process. Hyperbaric
oxygen therapy uses a combination of increasing the atmospheric
pressure and 100 percent oxygen to dissolve oxygen into the blood
plasma and deliver it to body cells, tissues and fluids up to ten times
the normal concentration. This reestablishes oxygen to body tissues
that are compromised or have been receiving less than normal amounts of
blood flow and promotes healing.
"We hope that hyperbaric oxygen therapy will stimulate the area around
injured brain tissue to improve the patients' cognitive functions,"
said Dr. E. George Wolf, a staff physician in the SAMMC Hyperbaric
Center. "We will also monitor symptoms of post traumatic stress
disorder to see if there are any changes during the HBO study."
Many patients are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and
traumatic brain injury and have symptoms of both, Dr. Wolf said.
The study will be conducted using 50 subjects who have been identified
by their neurologists as having cognitive function problems and is
scheduled to start in November. Potential subjects may be identified
through neurologists at the Audie Murphy Veterans Hospital in San
Antonio and SAMMC-North, or Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam
Houston, Texas.
According to a report prepared for Congress, more than 8,000 American
military members currently suffer from some sort of brain injury as a
result of the war on terrorism.
"It would be a great accomplishment if our study provides evidence that
hyperbaric therapy can help these warfighters so they can be offered
another opportunity to recover from their injuries," Dr. Wolf said.
