The COVID- According to Israeli researchers, 19 patients who received pure oxygen therapy experienced improvements in their functional cognition and damaged brain regions compared to trial participants who received ordinary air.
Research relates COVID-19 to tissue damage and brain atrophy, and some patients experience “brain fog.” The purpose of the hyperbaric oxygen experiment was to test its potential for treating COVID-related brain problems.
According to Leaps.org, Shai Efrati, a researcher at the Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine in Tel Aviv, began clinical trials in December 2020.
Patients with cognitive problems from the COVID-19 study had 40 sessions of therapy in a specialised hyperbaric chamber over the course of 60 days. They used a mask to breathe for 90 minutes throughout each session. The control group received regular air, which contains less oxygen, whereas one group received pure oxygen.
Scientific Reports’ findings showed that subjects who inhaled pure oxygen experienced significant improvements in functional cognition and damaged brain tissue. Most also claimed to feel “normal” once more.
Inside the hyperbaric chamber, up to 12 patients and medical personnel can be accommodated. It is similar to a pressurised aeroplane cabin, but with “far more space than even in first class,” according to Leaps.
According to Efrati, the setting is a “medical class centre.”
Leaps was informed by Alexander Charney, MD, a research psychiatrist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, that a large-scale replication of the study might be challenging. But he asserted that it was intriguing enough to merit more research.
The finding “has significant promise to benefit individuals with chronic COVID whose symptoms are due to brain tissue changes,” according to John J. Miller, MD, editor-in-chief of Psychiatric Times.
