HBOT for Pets: The Adventures of Piper the Hyperdog

So this is happening—and why not? Piper, an 8-year-old Sheltie, sustained penetrating wounds when she was mauled by another dog a month ago. Now she is being treated with hyperbaric oxygen by Dr. Andrew Turkell at the Calusa Veterinary Center in Boca Raton, Florida. Turkell estimates there are fewer than half a dozen facilities in the US offering HBOT for small animals. Here's the adorable video that could multiply that number and open up a whole new wing in the HyperbaricLink treatment center directory.



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

ACHM Saying Farewell To "Father Of Hyperbaric Medicine"

Dr. Eric Kindwall

We are moved by this week's tribute to hyperbaric medicine pioneer Eric Kindwall by his colleagues at the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine. Kindwall has served as executive director of ACHM since 2004. He was diagnosed with metastatic cancer in 2007, and his health is quickly deteriorating. But the College relays this uplifting message from Kindwall's native Sweden:

Dr. Kindwall is currently alert, comfortable and able to have conversations with his family and friends. Despite his current situation, his sense of humor remains intact. His wife, Marilyn, has shared that Dr. Kindwall enjoys receiving notes and phone calls from friends and former colleagues. She has suggested that anyone who might otherwise attend a memorial service would instead write Eric a letter or share a few moments with him while he is still alert and aware.

Read the complete farewell and get the contact information on the ACHM website. Our thoughts and best wishes to all our ACHM friends in Milwaukee and across the country.

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

UHMS Accredits HBOT At Good Samaritan, Suffern NY

The Wound and Hyperbaric Institute at Good Samaritan Hospital, Suffern, New York, has earned accreditation by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS). The hospital-based HBOT center is a Bon Secours Charity Health System and Life Support Technologies Group (LST) facility.

From the news release:

The Wound Care and Hyperbaric Institute represents the most advanced integration of hardware, software, staff training and credentialing available to the region," said Glenn Butler, CEO of the Life Support Technologies group, which has partnered with Good Samaritan Hospital to develop the Institute. "Being a UHMS-accredited facility demonstrates that the Institute has been thoroughly examined and deemed successful in meeting the national standards set forth by UHMS and The Joint Commission."

Our congratulations to good folks at Good Sam, Bon Secours, and (once again) LST. HyperbaricLink joins The Joint Commission in encouraging more hyperbaric medicine programs to seek and attain UHMS accreditation, for the good of all healthcare consumers and referring physicians in need of quality HBOT. Go to the UHMS website to learn more about the accreditation process.

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

Traumatic Brain Injury: Duerson Autopsy Results

More details are emerging about the devastating effects of repeated concussions and traumatic brain injuries on the brain of late Chicago Bears great Dave Duerson. (See our previous coverage.) Last week's piece in The Guardian takes readers into the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE), commonly known as the NFL Brain Bank. Read more in "The NFL star and the brain injuries that destroyed him" on guardian.co.uk. We recommend the article to anyone interested in the history and future of sports-related traumatic brain injury. Those of you with stronger stomachs may wish to begin with this 2-minute video, as fascinating as it is disturbing.



In related news, a group of 75 former players have sued the NFL for failure to inform them about the risks and harmful long-term effects of concussion. Helmet manufacturer Riddell is also named in the lawsuit.

We worry that ongoing research on hyperbaric oxygen and TBI may be slowed by recent findings of dysfunction and mismanagement at the DCoE. Let's hope new challenges bring new focus and purposeful acceleration instead.

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

Mixing Hyperbaric Oxygen with Other Prescription Drugs

We'll say it again: hyperbaric oxygen is a prescription drug. An intriguing new scientific paper treats it as such and explores how hyperbaric oxygen may interact with other drugs. The author notes potential interactions, both beneficial and harmful, with 38 (55%) of the 69 commonly prescribed drugs reviewed.

Go to Medscape to read "An Appraisal of Potential Drug Interactions Regarding Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Frequently Prescribed Medications," by Robert G. Smith, DPM, MSc, RPh, C.Ped, published in the June issue of the journal Wounds. The operative word is "potential." There are no firm revelations or warnings here, and this study shares the relative weakness of all literature reviews and analyses. But how good for Dr Smith to have begun this important work.

You may wish to skip straight to Table 1 for the overview. Then we recommend a quick read of the excellent sections on how hyperbaric oxygen affects human physiology and alters the mechanisms and effects of many medications.

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

TBI Study: A Single Injury May Double Dementia Risk

A major new study finds that people who suffer just one traumatic brain injury face significantly higher risk of developing the protein plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer's disease. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Glasgow, UK, compared postmortem brains from 39 long-term TBI survivors to uninjured, age-matched controls. Choice quote from the Penn news release:

A single traumatic brain injury is very serious, both initially, and as we're now learning, even later in life," said Douglas Smith, MD, professor of Neurosurgery and director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, the study's co-senior author. "Plaques and tangles are appearing abnormally early in life, apparently initiated or accelerated by a single TBI."

Read the original paper, "Widespread Tau and Amyloid-Beta Pathology Many Years After a Single Traumatic Brain Injury in Humans," in the journal Brain Pathology. The authors also presented their findings earlier this week at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Paris. Watch a short summary interview with chief medical and scientific officer William Thies, PhD.



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

UHMS Accredits Wound Center at Knapp Medical Center

The Wound Center at Knapp Medical Center, Weslaco, Texas, has earned accreditation by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS). The outpatient HBOT center is an InterAmerica Wound Center facility. The medical center's website adds that Knapp is

... the only wound care facility in the Rio Grande Valley to receive such a certification and is also the only facility in the Valley to have a complete staff of UHMS certified registered nurses and technicians.

As we emphasized last week, 121 UHMS-accredited facilities is not nearly enough to adequately serve the hundreds of thousands of Americans with chronic wounds, diabetic ulcers, delayed radiation injury, and other FDA-approved indications for HBO therapy. We also note the inclusion of brown recluse spider bite on the Knapp list of indications. Please hold that thought.

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

UHMS Accredits LST Kingston, New York, HBOT Center

The hyperbaric oxygen center at HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley's Kingston Hospital has earned accreditation by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS). The outpatient HBOT center is a Life Support Technologies Group (LST) facility. Read the full story in the Saugerties Post Star. Kingston now ranks among just 6 UHMS-accredited facilities in New York and 121 nationwide, not nearly enough to adequately serve the hundreds of thousands of people with chronic wounds, diabetic ulcers, delayed radiation injury, and other FDA-approved indications for HBO therapy.

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

Hyperbaric Study Volunteers Wanted In Utah

We gladly pass along this invitation from Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah:

Pass the word, please: Scuba divers and hyperbaric employees are needed to volunteer for a study of pressure changes inside our state-of-the-art hyperbaric chamber. To sign up or get more information, please contact Laura Petty at 801-408-3623.

You may also wish to visit the center's Facebook page. But really we just wanted to reprint this keen photograph.

[Photo: Intermountain Medical Center]

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

Traumatic Brain Injury: DCoE Faces Tough GAO Scrutiny

The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) may be too dysfunctional to carry out its mission, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) concludes in a new report. Part of that mission is to study how hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) may help some wounded soldiers suffering traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Surely DCoE funds flowing into the hyperbaric medical community will face serious review and closer scrutiny going forward.

Once again we suggest readers tune in to NPR and ProPublica for excellent coverage of this important topic. Listen to a 4-minute story on Morning Edition. Read ProPublica's latest Brain Wars article, "Gov't Watchdog Criticizes Pentagon Center for Brain Injury, PTSD," for more information and helpful links.

[Graphic: Al Granberg/ProPublica]

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

California Autism Twins Study: Nature-Nurture Conundrum

What causes autism? Just last month we shared some important new science about genetic clues. (See our June 12 post, "Autism: Genetic Mutations New Cause For Excitement.") Now a study published last week in the Archives of General Psychiatry, looking exclusively at autism in fraternal twins, makes a strong case for environmental causes—specifically in the pregnancy and birth environment. Genetics alone could not account for high rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among nonidentical twins.

Autism Speaks summarizes:

The California Autism Twins Study suggests environmental influences, which could include parental age, low birth weight, multiple births, and maternal infections during pregnancy may greatly increase risk for ASD. The study suggested that both genetic and shared environmental factors significantly increase risk for ASD: an estimated 38 percent of risk being associated with genetic heritability and 58 percent with the environment that twins share during pregnancy and perhaps early infancy. The study also found that the relative contributions of shared genes and shared environment are similar for males and females.

These interesting findings once again provide more questions than answers. They also stoke the heated war of words between outspoken factions in the autism community. We direct your attention to CommonHealth for a brief, clear, and fair backgrounder by guest blogger Karen Weintraub, who helpfully organizes the current research into environmental causes: (1) immune problems; (2) chemicals in the air, water, food, or on the ground; (3) problems during birth or delivery; (4) medications; and (5) nutrition.

You will next hear from us on this topic when we publish our updated and upgraded autism page. Then you will not hear from us again until someone publishes meaningful new clinical evidence to support any practical role for hyperbaric oxygen in addressing this national public health crisis.

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

Boise Identifies Flying Objects As Hyperbaric Chambers

At the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine, Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital, they're picking up stakes, and hyperbaric chambers, and moving across town. Each chamber weighs more than a ton, but watch them fly through the air with the greatest of ease in this KTVB video.



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