Adjunctive HBO Treatment of Children with Cerebral Anoxic Injury
CPT Philip Waalkes, MC, USA
COL Daniel T. Fitzpatrick, MC, USA
MAJ Seth Stankus, MC, USA
Richard Topolski, PhD
Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy has been successfully used to treat a variety of medical disorders, including brain injury. This study evaluated the effects of adjunctive HBO therapy on functional outcomes in nine military dependent children with anoxic brain in jury and attempted to identify the optimum number of treatments. Baseline and serial evaluations using multiple functional measures showed improvement in gross motor function and reduced total time of custodial care in the children with cerebral palsy (CP). Early intervention with HBO therapy seemed to effect overall improvement. An optimum number of treatments remains undetermined since improvements were noted to the end of the study.
