Friday, March 13, 2009

HBOT Effective Against Autism

Okay, this information isn't cerebral palsy specific, but I think it's worth mentioning. Both autism and cerebral palsy are based in the brain, so it's great to see a study that scientifically supports HBOT for such diagnoses.

A multicenter, randomoized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study (the strongest kind of research) was published today that shows significant improvements in autistic children after 40 hours of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The study, A Controlled Trial of the Clinical Effects of Hyperbaric Therapy in Autistic Children, included 62 children with autism between the ages of 2 and 7 years of age who were randomly assigned to 40 hourly treatments of either hyperbaric treatment at 1.3 atmosphere (atm)and 24% oxygen or slightly pressurized room air at 1.03 atm and 21%oxygen.

To quote the study
"Children with autism who received hyperbaric treatment at 1.3 atm and 24% oxygen for 40 hourly sessions had significant improvements in overall functioning, receptive language, social interaction, eye contact, and sensory/cognitive awareness compared to children who received slightly pressurized room air."

For more details, please read the study - Hyperbaric treatment for children with autism: a multicenter, randomized, doubleblind, controlled trial

News storied regarding the research study:
Hyperbaric Therapy Called Effective Against Autism
Oxygen therapy benefit in autism

4 comments:

  1. I'll look through your site for it, but do you know of any centers that do HBOT? My son has CP and Autism (and a host of other things). We're starting to look into it (even though we can't afford it).

    Thanks.

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  2. Well, that is impressive. Wow. Maybe it is time to take Max for more HBOT. Though I can't imagine him staying in a tent for any period of time....

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  3. Mia, a great site listing HBOT providers is http://www.netnet.net/mums/. HBOT has certainly helped our son and I do recommend looking into it.

    Ellen, this time has been more difficult because Elijah is more mobile and has figured out that he doesn't have to stay still in the chamber. The chamber we're treating in is one of the largest hard mono-chambers around, the Fortius 420 (http://www.oxyhealth.com/fortius-420.html). I wouldn't call it roomy, but it's tolerable.

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  4. Thanks so much for the list.

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