Restorix Health Mixes It Up In Greater Seattle

Suddenly one ambitious new HBOT clinic in Issaquah WA has become the darling of the local newspaper and the chamber of commerce, and raised the hackles of one leading authority in hyperbaric medicine. Restorix Health opened in December with "the largest collection of large monoplace chambers in the country" (6 Perry Sigma 40s) and plans "to lead the country in research using hyperbaric chambers to treat soldiers with traumatic brain injuries" and other investigational conditions by opening "15 to 20 new clinics along the West Coast in the next five years." Followup coverage last week ballyhoos the center's Innovation in Issaquah award for "space-age medical research."

UHMS past president Dr Neil Hampson is having none of it. Read his letter to editor of the Issaquah Reporter (see also our appreciation of his Virginia Mason program). Hampson casts doubt on Restorix's business model and its clinicians' research credentials, concluding:

I am skeptical that the Restorix Foundation will be capable of underwriting the expense of quality research in hyperbaric medicine, as I would be about most foundations in this country. My strongest hope is that they do not plan to charge patients for experimental treatment.

Restorix Research Institute chief medical officer Tommy Love shot off a quick rebuttal, insisting his studies (4 in the works) will be IRB-approved and peer-reviewed, adding:

Our research studies will never charge patients to participate.  Dr. Hampson’s claim that only large institutions can do credible research is simply untrue.

We're captivated by the debate and eager to learn more about the privately funded research Restorix has in the works.

O2.0 is the news blog of HyperbaricLink, the independent web guide to hyperbaric oxygen therapy.