LeBron Disses HBOT To Peddle Vitamin Water

Please don't watch if you can't take a joke. A pretty funny spot, really. And goodness knows we've dipped our skewer in the cheese so have no right to complain. But word to King James: We'll match the medical literature on HBOT against the medical literature on antioxidants any day of the week.

HBOT For Autism: Junk Science?

Yesterday "hyperbaric oxygen chambers to cure autism" made the Junk Science Week shortlist in a major Canadian newspaper. National Post financial columnist Terance Corcoran, darting about from fear to hype to hope, fails to build much of a case for such harsh judgment. And his entire tirade stems from a pretty finely balanced television story on CBC's The National.

We're on record, in this blog and on the HyperbaricLink autism page, in favor of more well-designed clinical investigations to build on last year's interesting work by Rossignol, et al, using mild HBOT. The UHMS December 2009 position statement on "The Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy" concurs:

... there is a strong case for further trials to be done in this area. Any future trials would need to be well planned, appropriately powered and include several relevant treatment arms.... These clinical efforts should be combined with efforts to elucidate the basic mechanisms by which mild hyperbaric therapy might exert a therapeutic effect.

Now does that sound like Junk Science to you? Let's be ever mindful of the canyon that lies between "unstudied" and "disproven" medical claims, especially when seeking effective treatments for such a poorly misunderstood condition as autism.

Minnesota: HCMC Fights Back

As the mercury falls in Minnesota, so rises the battle cry to save Hennepin County Medical Center from deep budget cuts. Without swift legislative action, before March 2010, the state's only 24/7 emergency-ready hyperbaric chamber is sure to shut down. (See our October 4 story, "Embattled MN Chamber Faces Ax.")

HCMC is fighting back. Making savvy use of online social media and good old-fashioned grassroots politics, the new Will You Lose? campaign underscores the medical center's proud history and modern role in disaster preparedness and statewide emergency healthcare access, especially for the uninsured. It also offers a great way for the hyperbaric medicine community to get involved. Please join O2.0 in signing up and spreading the word.

(Pictured: Jim Harris, CHT, at the HCMC chamber controls. Photo: Jim Gehrz, Star Tribune)

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.