Using Hyperbaric Medicine in Treating Brain Injured Soldiers
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Using Hyperbaric Medicine in Treating Brain Injured Soldiers
Update: Click here for Brain Research article.
Did you know that according to a recent study released by the military, between 154,000 and 392,000 service members and veterans returning from Iraq have suffered at least mild brain injury, and 30% of service members treated at Walter Reed have mild, moderate, or severe traumatic brain injury?
Using Hyperbaric Medicine in Treating Brain Injured Soldiers
The Department of Defense (DoD)/Veteran’s Administration (VA) Brain Injury Rescue and Rehabilitation (BIRR) project is designed to treat these very service members and veterans with hyperbaric oxygen treatment. This treatment originated in the military in diving and aerospace medicine. However, its use in traumatic brain injury was perfected at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine’s hyperbaric medicine/emergency medicine concurrent fellowship. There is a need to do a rigorous study to verify the civilian clinical findings, which have been replicated by many other medical professionals across the nation.
Efforts, which began at Walter Reed in January, 2004, have now culminated into a project that will have joint cooperation between Army, Air Force and Navy medical professions. There are also research physicians at the Veterans Administration, who are willing to participate in this study. An independent, non-profit research organization, well known for its excellent and unbiased DoD/VA research, has agreed to coordinate the overall project.
AAHF, along with the International Hyperbaric Medical Association, is requesting $10 million from Congress to coordinate and conduct treatment for 400 veterans. This is a sufficient group for this randomized and controlled trial to verify or refute the findings of the civilian physicians who have treated many patients and have expertise in this treatment.
Learn more at www.HBOT.com
Please contact Congress today to encourage your Representatives to support this very important effort.
An Amazing Video
If you’re not familiar with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), we recommend watching this video on youtube. There is power in seeing what HBOT actually does.
Curt Allen, Jr. was a 17 year old man who was involved in a high speed motor vehicle accident in June, 2004, in which he sustained severe traumatic brain injury. Curt was in a coma at the scene of the accident. He was admitted to an acute care hospital, underwent brain surgery to relieve pressure and placed in the ICU in critical condition. After one month he was transferred to a highly regarded post-acute brain injury rehabilitation center in Southeast Louisiana where he remained for 3 months. During these three months he made such minimal progress that he was discharged as a failure of standard intensive traumatic brain injury therapy.
This video records the astounding recovery that Curt made as he underwent a course of HBOT. The segments of the video were edited from the running VHS tape Dr. Paul Harch recorded of Curt’s progress beginning 4 months after his severe traumatic brain injury through 89 HBOT’s.