Another Blog We Read And Like

We're finding this blogger's life full of rewards. Newsgathering and research inform. Eavesdropping and gossip entertain. But few and far between are those who actually teach.

Dr Glenn L. Goodhart could conduct a clinic on how to webify a clinical practice. And he gives good blog. Check out his recent posts on the ischemic penumbra, where he uses so few words to add so much to our understanding of HBOT for stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, and other neurologic conditions.

We welcome Dr Goodhart and Atlanta Hyperbaric to these airwaves.

Bedside View Of Healthcare Reform

There's nothing like spending a few days in a hospital room to remind one how American healthcare really works. Except when it doesn't. Again we must curb the urge to get all grand and op-ed in these humble posts. Just one thing. If we can ever connect the dots between the selfless dedication of your average healthcare worker and the highest aspirations of our best minds in Washington, a lot of good will be done. We've already tried the easy path to failure. The opacity of nope.

Veterinary HBOT: They Treat Horses, Don't They? Part 2

At Churchill Downs it's a day. Now at Saratoga it's a week. The New York State Racing and Wagering Board today imposed a new rule for racehorses treated with hyperbaric oxygen. Horses are banned from competition for 7 days after a dive.

Horse owners and trainers are increasingly using the enclosed chambers, saying they accelerate the healing of wounds and help with lung irritation and congestion. But [board chairman John] Sabini said Tuesday that the half-hour, $300-$400 treatments can unnaturally enhance performance, give some horses an unfair advantage and jeopardize their health.

Guess to some people HBOT sounds too much like oxygen on steroids.

O2.0 Welcomes Hyperbaric Tech Blog

We're always on the lookout for new voices in the HBOT blogosphere. (Really, the water's fine. Jump in.) One we'll be following religiously is Hyperbaric Tech Blog. Aimed at techs, managers, supervisors, and safety managers, it's:

1. An open and honest forum focusing on HBO safety and operational conundrums we as HBO techs run into on a daily basis.
2. Discussions on current HBO events, news, tips and tricks, and shared experiences in the field of Hyperbaric Medicine.

Informative. Fun. Breezy, but in a good way. This seems like a helpful new forum, and we're happy to see them off to a flying start.

Healthcare Reform: No Moonshot For HBOT

As the healthcare debate rages on Capitol Hill, don't expect any brilliant insights or viewpoints from our little corner of the industry. O2.0 expects major reform this year—a moonshot—but no appreciable, specific changes in HBOT access or financing. Opinions vary. We welcome yours.

HAIs: Fighting A Pandemic Already In Progress

Yesterday we doubted whether HBOT has any role in treating H1N1, the so-called swine flu, poised for a comeback this fall and winter. But we have no doubt hyperbaric oxygen is a powerful weapon against the baddest bugs our healthcare community is fighting right here right now. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Turns out most of these tiny culprits find life real hard in pure oxygen under high pressure. Researchers have shown us the proof in the petri dish. Clinicians have borne out the evidence in treating chronic wounds and several other approved conditions, including necrotizing infections, intracranial abscess, osteomyelitis, and gas gangrene, where HBOT helps control methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other troublesome bacteria.

There's plenty hospitals can do to prevent hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), sometimes also called healthcare-acquired or nosocomial infections. And there's plenty they're not doing. A recent CNN report sings the praises of some of this war's unsung heroes. Our question is, What's the best course of treatment when prevention fails and attacking bacteria outmatch our best antibiotics? We think you'll be seeing HBOT in the mix and in the news more and more.

Any Role For HBOT In H1N1 Flu Prevention?

Last week, like millions of Americans, we received an email from Homeland Security (yikes!) explaining how we can help prevent an H1N1 flu pandemic this autumn. The more we look the more we're convinced HBOT has little if any role in this fight. Try washing your hands instead. Then cross your clean fingers for speedy delivery of an effective vaccine. Or, if you think we've missed important new evidence, post a comment, then wash your hands again.

Insurgent Urgency: TBI On Track For 14th Indication

Now the hyperbaric pressure is on. Before we set aside this critically important topic for a very short while, check out more major coverage in today's New York Times on the increasing proliferation and sophistication of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by Afghan insurgents. Congressman Pete Sessions (TX) reiterates the aim of his legislation here.

Why Congressional Action Is So Timely

The Atlantic today reminds us that soldiers in Afghanistan face a mounting risk of injury from improvised explosive devices. Indeed there'll be no end to IEDs anytime soon. All the more reason for swift action on Pete Sessions's VA initiative. Have another look at that Brain Storm film, while you're at it, and some choice Congressional testimony on this vital matter.

Mainstream Media Debates False Choices

Actual headline. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy: Panacea or pure science fiction? This is not a question sincerely in search of an answer. Yet it's the typical approach of the mainstream media whenever they stoop to cover HBOT. Today's LA Times strikes the same indelicate imbalance in a story titled Portable hyperbaric chambers: An expensive folly? Here poor Michael Jackson once again provides the irresistible lead (and famous creepy photo) for an exposé on the portable chamber business. Of course we know, as the paper's editors should know, that that's no portable mHBOT chamber MJ's sleeping in. A spotty review of manufacturers' claims versus facts only hints at how helpful and informative the article might have been. Skepticism is healthy, yes, but a capable reporter digs deep for plain answers to reasonable questions. O2.0 and HyperbaricLink challenge the mainstream media to do a more thorough job covering HBOT. And we're here to help with the digging.

Congress Looking Into More HBOT In VA Hospitals

Today the US House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill by written by Texas congressman Pete Sessions to recognize and report the results and planned expansion of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in Veterans Affairs facilities.

Thousands of our brave servicemen and women are returning from combat with severe limb injuries, Traumatic Brain Injuries and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders, resulting in an inability to hold a job, properly care for their families, or, in some cases, overcome suicidal tendencies,” stated Sessions. “As a nation, we have the responsibility for their care and recovery, and I am particularly encouraged with the potential of expanding hyperbaric therapy to treat brain-injured soldiers suffering from TBI and PTSD.”

Read the entire press release here. Special thanks and congratulations to the International Hyperbaric Medical Association for so tirelessly lobbying for this encouraging legislative action.

...And HBOT Campsites

And speaking of camps, we've been spending a lot of time this summer hiking from site to site, peeking under the flaps, listening round the campfires, and gathering stories and fuel for (let's call it) an enlightened editorial policy.

We've met two HBOT tribes. One has the right data but the wrong spirit. The other has the wrong data but the right spirit.

O2.0 belongs to neither. To both. And we counsel peace. Here at HyperbaricLink we're aiming to channel opposing views into forward progress—scientific and clinical, political and commercial—for hyperbaric medicine. Join us, won't you?

Of Dog Days And Deer Ticks...

Don't fret. That's a centimeter, not an inch, in the photo. Be more afraid that the hyperbaric medical community's view on Lyme disease has at least as many legs and lurks in a thicket where your pleasant stroll may end with a sharp bite.

As we busily prepare new site content and links for self-guided research, we started waffling about how to handle this indication. We were relieved the National Institutes of Health shares our confusion about chronic Lyme disease (CLD) and post-Lyme disease syndrome (PLDS). Meanwhile, the Infectious Diseases Society of America lists HBOT among its

therapeutic modalities not recommended [for Lyme disease]...because of a lack of biologic plausibility, lack of efficacy, absence of supporting data, or the potential for harm to the patient....

So how's this for biologic plausability? When a blacklegged tick (or any insect or spider) bite becomes seriously infected by bacteria, the wound then enters a clinical realm shared by a number of approved HBOT indications—namely, chronic wounds, necrotizing infections, intracranial abscess, osteomyelitis, and gas gangrene—all well supported by clinical data on efficacy and safety.

Change that scale from centimeters to nanometers. Now we're ready to talk.

Victims' Family Sues Florida HBOT Center

With the first legal action following the doubly fatal May 1 fire (see our June 11 post) come the first reliable reports about the possible causes:

A blast at the clinic dislodged a tube attached to a hyperbaric chamber, resulting in an explosion and flash fire, authorities said. How that happened is still under investigation.

We'll keep O2.0 readers informed of any new developments.

Cerebral Palsy: Evidence From Scant To Promising?

The 2001 Lancet paper by Collet, et al, continues to fascinate. (See our April 15 post.) Well, fellow hyperblogger Dr Glenn L. Goodhart has an interesting new take on the matter and shares a 2007 review article by Collet's co-author Dr Pierre Marois, who calls for further study and urges that

...in the meantime, given the very low risk of adverse effects and the promising results, children should be allowed access to HBOT.

We thank the good doctor Goodhart. But we can't agree it's time to approve HBOT for CP based on this evidence. And precisely how the supposedly evil threat of Canadian-style "socialized" medicine figures in this story we cannot possibly divine.