2015-may-june

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oxygen therapy
26 MAY / JUN 2015 I Healthcare Journal of new orleans
What The Research Found
Dr. Harch has seen significant changes as a
result of the HBOT. The average change in
participants’ IQ was 14 points. On average,
participants improved a full standard devia-
tion in delayedmemory and two-thirds of a
standard deviation in workingmemory and
attention.
Eight of the 13 cognitive tests had
extremely strong statistically significant
changes, and all eight of the emotional mea-
sures, such as effects on depression, anxi-
ety, quality of life, and so on, had highly sta-
tistically significant improvements as well.
Participants also experienced a significant
reduction in suicidal ideation and were able
to decrease the dosage or discontinue their
psychoactive medication.
Dr. Harch also compared the participants’
brain blood flow (SPECT) scan results to
SPECT scan results from a previous LSU
study on healthy, normal people. Initially,
the brain-injured participants’SPECT scans
were statistically, significantly abnormal
compared to the SPECT scans of those in
the earlier study. However, after HBOT, the
two groups became nearly indistinguishable.
Brain blood flowhad almost completely been
normalized in a widespreadmanner in addi-
tion to the improvements in cognitive scores.
These results are in concordancewith pre-
vious HBOT studies, andDr. Harch feels they
bear significant weight on the future of TBI
medicine. He is also currently conducting
another HBOT study for which he is actively
seeking participants who have experienced
traumatic brain injury at least sixmonths to
ten years ago ( ).
“The research affects one of the most
common conditions that we have in soci-
ety,”said Dr. Harch. “TBI is one of the biggest
health problems, one of the biggest drivers of
healthcare costs, and one of the biggest con-
tributors to long-term disability and unem-
ployment, substance abuse, homelessness,
even criminal activity.”
He continued, “A therapy that stops the
injury process very early on if rendered soon
after the TBI, or that can help long-termdys-
functional patients by helping to ameliorate
their symptoms andmake themmore func-
tional, could potentially have a huge impact.
This just has tremendous importance and
application to society. I believe it’s going
to revolutionize the fields of medicine and
neurology.”
Future Applications
of Hyperbaric Oxygen
While HBOT has shown positive results for
wound repair and now TBI and PTSD, Dr.
Harch does not plan to stop there.
In his book, The Oxygen Revolution, Dr.
Harch tells the story of his mother, who
developed severe dementia in her old age
and was not given long to live. However,
after hyperbaric oxygen treatments, many
of her physical, mental, and emotional fac-
ulties improved, and her life was extended
by several years.
Dr. Harch is driven to replicate those
results in other cognitively impaired patients
and is currently designing studies to research
treatments for various groups, but he has still
more in store for exciting potential uses for
hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
“In addition, I’mgoing to apply this to can-
cer,”saidDr. Harch. “We have evidence that in
conjunction with other agents that we have
identified as tumoricidal, we can combine
themwith hyperbaric oxygen.”
Dr. Harchwill discuss these treatments and
more in the upcoming update to his book.
While New Orleans may not be as well
known formedical research contributions as
other parts of the country, Dr. Harch believes
that tidemay turnwith the discovery of new
utilities for hyperbaric oxygen therapies.
“I firmly believe this is going to lead the
country and revolutionize medicine in its
applications,” said Dr. Harch. “And it all
started, or I should say really blossomed,
right here.” n
“In addition, I’m going to apply
this to cancer. We have evidence
that in conjunction with other
agents that we have identified
as tumoricidal, we can combine
them with hyperbaric oxygen.”
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovers x-rays
and creates an image of his wife’s hand. 1817 British physiologist Marshall
Hall publishes On Diagnosis.
c. 1850 Lab tests are developed for common diseases
such as tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid,
diphtheria, though the cures lag far behind.
1895
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