Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a medical treatment that involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized room or chamber. In these hyperbaric (high pressure) conditions, your lungs can gather up to three times more oxygen than would be possible breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure.
The blood carries this oxygen throughout your body, helping to fight bacteria and stimulate the release of substances called growth factors and stem cells, which promote healing.
A recent study delved into the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for alleviating late local toxic effects in women who have undergone radiation treatment for breast cancer.
The toxic effects in question include pain, fibrosis, edema, and movement restrictions that appear 12 months or more after radiation therapy.
Conducted in the Netherlands, this research was part of a larger, hospital-based, pragmatic, randomized clinical trial focusing on women who had reported moderate to severe symptoms of these toxic effects.
The trial included 189 women, who were divided into two groups: an intervention group offered HBOT and a control group that was not.
The HBOT consisted of 30 to 40 sessions spread over 6 to 8 consecutive weeks. The main goal was to observe changes in pain levels, fibrosis, edema, movement restrictions, and overall quality of life six months after the random assignment.
The results showed a nuanced picture of HBOT’s effectiveness. Only one in four women in the intervention group chose to undergo HBOT, primarily deterred by the high intensity of the treatment.
When looking at the outcomes through an intention-to-treat analysis, which includes all participants regardless of whether they completed their assigned treatment, HBOT did not significantly reduce pain levels when offered to participants. However, it did lead to a significant reduction in fibrosis. Among the women who completed the HBOT, there was a significant decrease in both pain and fibrosis.
Despite the effectiveness of HBOT in reducing fibrosis (and pain among those who completed the therapy), the study highlighted a low acceptance rate of the therapy among eligible participants. This suggests that while HBOT can be beneficial for certain late toxic effects after breast irradiation, the willingness to undergo this relatively intensive treatment is limited.
While HBOT shows potential benefits in reducing pain and fibrosis in women suffering from late toxic effects of breast cancer radiation therapy, particularly among those who complete the treatment. However, the approach’s overall effectiveness is limited by the low uptake rate among eligible patients, pointing to a need for further research into more accessible or acceptable therapeutic options for this patient population.
