The past 13 years have witnessed an explosion in the use and application of HBOT to chronic cerebral conditions. This has been accompanied by widespread negative sentiment in the medical establishment primarily due to gross ignorance of HBOT and HBOT effects on injured brain, the propagation of old misperceptions of HBOT, and the irresponsible public proclamations of uninformed doctors. The published information in medical journals has been similarly negative and lacks a basic understanding of the fundamentals of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. In addition, none of the articles in medical journals have applied the known mechanisms of HBOT to brain injury. In 1996 I sought to link the known mechanism of action of HBOT in chronic extremity wounds to chronic brain injury in animals using the protocol I first used in humans. We were successful, but needed replication of the results with a larger number of rats. That was achieved in 2001 with more powerful statistics. This model likely underpins the generic effect of HBOT in chronic brain injury and also explains the changes that are seen in SPECT brain images. In my lecture at the 3rd International Symposium in July I will tie all of this together and give the attendees a scientific framework from which they can successfully argue the application of HBOT to chronic brain injury to doctors, scientists, insurance companies, and others.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Paul G. Harch, M.D.

6/11/2003.