Dr. Paul Harch Hyperbarics Inc. HBOT Treatments for Brain Injury

Thu, 12/15/2011 - 01:48 |

Edward Lucarini

Dr. Paul Harch Hyperbarics Inc. HBOT Treatments
for Neurological Disorders

Marrero,LA

The Family Physicians' Center remains the primary HBOT practice site of Dr. Harch. This facility is equipped with 4 Sechrist monoplace hyperbaric oxygen chambers and TCOM (transcutaneous oxygen monitors). Both off-label and typically reimbursed indications are treated. This hyperbaric oxygen therapy clinic is one half mile from West Jefferson Medical Center with its multiplace hyperbaric department and the high resolution SPECT brain scanner that Dr. Harch uses for Scan-Dive-Scan procedures. Phone interviews, appointments, and New Orleans consultations can be scheduled by calling the office at: 504.309.4948

Edward Lucarini's blog |

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Tags: HBOT for Autism, HBOT for PTSD, HBOT for TBI, HBOT for TBI/PTSD

The Hyperbaric Chamber: Science, Not Miracle by Nina Subbotina

Fri, 07/22/2011 - 13:57 |

Edward Lucarini

The Hyperbaric Chamber: Science, Not Miracle

By Nina Subbotina. MD, Ph.D

Nina Subbotina M.D., Ph.D is a specialist in hyperbaric medicine. She is the author of the first scientific book about this specialty written in Spanish: Medicina Hiperbárica. Here is a first look at her latest book The Hyperbaric Chamber: O2 Science Not Miracle.

Author: Nina Subbotina MD, Ph.D. Specialist in hyperbaric medicine and director of Buenos Aires Center of Hyperbaric Medicine since 1998.

· A comprehensible exposition for health care professionals readily accessible to the general reader.

· Describes treatments officially recognized in United States for 13 pathologies.

· Describes treatments endorsed by evidence-based medicine and the current state of knowledge for many other pathologies.

The Hyprbaric Chamber: Science, Not Miracle, is a comprehensible exposition readily accessible to the general reader, of the principal applications of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, its technique, and its results.

Contents
• Oxygen and the Hyperbaric Chamber
• Chronic Wounds or Nonhealing Ulcers
• Diabetic Foot Ulcer
• Gas Gangrene and Others Infections
• Severe Trauma
• República de Cromagnon’s Tragedy:
Smoke and Toxic Gases
• Radiation Necrosis
• Aseptic Bone Necrosis
• Sudden Deafness and Acoustic Trauma
• Neurological Disorders
• Children with Autism
• Cerebral Palsy
• Contraindications, Side Effects
and Complications
• Anti-Aging

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Tags: Hbot Books, HBOT for Autism, HBOT for Cerebral Palsy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Interview with Dr. Paul Harch: The Application of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Autism and Other Chronic Neurological Conditions

Thu, 07/21/2011 - 17:53 |

Edward Lucarini

Interview with Dr. Paul Harch:
The application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in chronic neurological conditions

Paul G. Harch, MD and Teri Small

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Tags: HBOT for Autism, HBOT for Cerebral Palsy

The Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Cure for Diseases Helps Treat Infection, Burns, Stroke, Autism, Migraine, and More

Wed, 06/15/2011 - 09:26 |

HBOT Staff

The Oxygen Cure

Helps Treat Infection, Burns, Stroke, Autism, Migraine,
and More

By Dr. Paul Harch

What do flesh-eating bacteria, diabetic foot ulcers and carbon monoxide poisoning have in common?

They all are on the list of 13 medical conditions approved for treatment with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT)-breathing 100% oxygen under pressure while fully enclosed in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. And there are many other conditions not yet officially approved that can benefit from the way HBOT treats disease.

HBOT is best known as a treatment for scuba divers with decompression sickness, or "the bends'' -when nitrogen bubbles form in the blood and other tissues. HBOT works partly by compressing those bubbles and dissolving them.

13 APPROVED USES FOR HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY (HBOT)

In the 1960s, doctors in the Netherlands discovered that HBOT could treat a life-threatening infection called gas gangrene, which can occur after severe wounds, such as those from gunshots and car accidents. The oxygen kills the anaerobic (nonoxygen-using) bacteria that cause the infection.

In 1965, Japanese doctors used HBOT to treat carbon monoxide poisoning from a coal mine fire. The oxygen displaces the carbon monoxide that is stuck to red blood cells.

The doctors also found that burns healed faster among patients treated with HBOT, generating another use for the therapy. Oxygen can reduce the secondary inflammatory reaction that accompanies any injury-the activation of the immune system's white blood cells and their subsequent discharge of toxic chemicals and enzymes, which further damages tissue.

The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS)-an organization representing physicians, nurses and technicians in the field of hyperbaric medicine-met with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and recommended HBOT for 13 specific conditions. These conditions are eased or aggravated by reduced oxygen level in body tissue. More than 30 years later, those approved conditions remain much the same:

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Tags: Autism, HBOT for Autism, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Treatment, The Oxygen Revolution

Traumatic Brain Injury Treated with Low Pressure Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and SPECT Scans Show Progressive Medical Improvement

Thu, 06/09/2011 - 15:05 |

HBOT Staff

Traumatic Brain Injury Treated with Low Pressure Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and SPECT Scans to Show Progressive Medical Improvement.

Low Pressure Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (LPHBOT) in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Perfusion/Metabolism Encephalopathies

by Dr. Paul G. Harch

I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Drs. Paul G. Harch, Paul K. Staab, and Keith Van Meter have developed an innovative program which evaluates patients with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) or brain diseases using SPECT Scan (Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography) brain imaging and low pressure hyperbaric oxygen therapy (LPHBOT). These brain injury studies were initially conducted under the auspices of the Baromedical Research Institute, a non-profit organization, devoid of shareholders, established by Dr. Van Meter in 1981 to conduct basic, applied, and clinical research in the broad fields of high pressure and critical care medicine. The traumatic brain injury protocol was sanctioned by the Institutional Review Board on Human Research at the Jo Ellen Smith Medical Center, a private, corporate hospital owned by Tenet, located on the West Bank of the Mississippi River in New Orleans, LA from 1993 through May, 1999 when the hospital and IRB closed. This program is now offered as an off-label use of HBOT. The hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments (dives) are performed at the Family Physicians' Center, Marrero, LA, a freestanding medical facility owned and operated by Van Meter and Associates - an organization consisting of physicians in New Orleans devoted to the practice of hyperbaric and emergency medicine. The brain scanning is performed, using Dr. Harch’s protocol, on a state-of-technology, high resolution, triple-headed nuclear medicine SPECT scanner at West Jefferson Medical Center, a publicly owned and operated hospital on the West Bank of the Mississippi River in the metropolitan New Orleans area.

The brain injury program is a direct outgrowth of the 14 year experience of Dr. Harch treating chronically brain injured patients, the independent 20 year clinical hyperbaric experience of Dr. Harch's practice group (Van Meter and Associates) at the Jo Ellen Smith Medical Center Hyperbaric Medicine Unit, the published reports of Drs. Richard A Neubauer and S.F. Gottlieb, and the 27 year clinical experience with brain injury of Dr. R.A Neubauer in Florida. In the late 1980's while at the Jo Ellen Smith Hyperbaric Medicine Unit, Dr. Harch observed patients with cerebral decompression sickness and/or air embolism who responded to hyperbaric oxygen therapy long after treatment of inert gas bubbles had passed or with delayed treatment months to years after standard U.S. Navy treatments had achieved partial success. In addition, Dr. Harch observed patients with brain contusion or stroke who, months to years after their neurological injury, concomitantly experienced gratuitous neurological improvement during the course of hyperbaric treatment for one of the standard accepted indications.

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Tags: HBOT for Autism, HBOT for TBI/PTSD, Low Pressure Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, SPECT Scan

Harch HBOT in Cerebral Palsy and Pediatric Neurology: A Scientific Perspective

Fri, 06/03/2011 - 13:44 |

HBOT Staff

HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY IN CEREBRAL PALSY

AND PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY:

A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE
PAUL G. HARCH, M.D.

[Published in Exceptionsl Parent EP Magazine June 2004]

Low pressure [< 2.0 ATA (atmospheres absolute)] hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been increasingly applied to chronic pediatric neurological conditions amidst much controversy and criticism. The negative reaction by the medical community is due, in large part, to the misconception and confusion of the scientific basis underlying the improvements in patients and the inconsistency of the definition and dosage of HBOT. These controversies are examined by developing the science of HBOT based on the drug definition of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and concept of dose.

This article will review the current literature and history of application of low pressure (low dosage) LPHBOT to pediatric neurology. The most rigorous study on this subject will be analyzed and its interpretation debated in terms of past and present scientific data and theoretical considerations. The major flaw in the study's conclusion is illustrated by pre and post HBOT SPECT brain imaging on two of the author's cerebral palsy patients and the author's 12-year-experiehce of HBOT treatment of Cerebral Palsy children. There is substantial scientific explanation and data to argue for reimbursement of HBOT in Cerebral Palsy.

INTRODUCTION

Since 1998, the international pediatric neurological community has seen an explosion in the off-label use of LPHBOT for chronic pediatric neurological conditions. The reaction of the neurological community has been a mixture of resentment, bewilderment, criticism, misperception, and confusion, largely as a result of a lack of understanding of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and the scientific basis of LPHBOT in chronic neurological conditions.

In 2001 Guo enumerated a variety of reasons for the lack of awareness of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. They included: a lack of evidence, incompatibility with standards of care, the longtime course to see results (weeks to months), inadequate communication of results, and inability to access adopters and payers. In an effort to better understand this patient-driven movement and service these five problems this article will review the science of LPHBOT and the history of development of LPHBOT in chronic neurological conditions. This review will provide a framework for better appreciating and understanding the claims of effectiveness and potential for LPHBOT in chronic pediatric neurological conditions. In addition, it will strongly argue for reimbursement of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in Cerebral Palsy.

HBOT Staff's blog |

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Tags: Cerebral Palsy, HBOT for Autism, HBOT for Cerebral Palsy, HBOT for TBI, Low Pressure HBOT, LPHBOT, SPECT Scan

HBOT in the Treatment of Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury:

Fri, 04/15/2011 - 23:26 |

HBOT Staff

HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY:

FROM LOUISIANA BOXERS TO U.S. VETERANS, AN AMERICAN CHRONOLOGY

PAUL G. HARCH, M.D.
CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
LSU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, NEW ORLEANS

The application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be traced to clinical practice and research in South Florida and New Orleans, Louisiana. It is well known that the practice of HBOT in chronic neurological conditions was pioneered by the late Dr. Richard Neubauer in the 1970s. Beginning with a serendipitous finding of gratuitous neurological improvement in two multiple sclerosis patients undergoing HBOT for chronic bone infections, Dr. Neubauer began applying HBOT to patients with other neurological conditions, primarily stroke. In 1994, he published his first case of HBOT treatment of chronic TBI in the Southern Medical Journal.