TBI/PTSD Update: Randomized Clinical Trials Show HBOT Safe and Effective
“Like other studies of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) for adverse sequalae after brain injury, our double-blind study found that a course of HBO2Â improved clinically meaningful outcomes.” Dr Lindell Weaver, MD
Science Update
March 1, 2025
Kaua’i, Hawaii
The latest clinical study on the use of Hyperbaric Oxygenation (HBOT) to treat and help heal brain wounds and reduce symptoms from brain injuries showed positive results. The journal Scientific Reports this week published A double-blind randomized trial of hyperbaric oxygen for persistent symptoms after brain injury. The study of 47 brain wounded patients was overseen by Dr Lindell Weaver. Dr. Weaver was the principal author of another positive clinical trial in 2018 when 71 patients showed similar improvements in the BIMA study.
This study is the 18th Clinical Trial among 27 peer-reviewed studies that all show the positive effects of HBOT for treating and helping heal brain wounds from TBI/PTSD. The TreatNOW Coalition and its affiliated 160+ free-standing HBOT clinics have helped over 31,000 fortunate patients with TBI/PTSD recover from brain wounds. Among those are over 12,000 Veterans, including over 700 Special Operators.
During this same twenty year time period, over 153,000 Veterans have succumbed to suicide, and over 110,000 Veterans have died due to drug overdoses, too many of them under VA care and using prescribed drugs that warn of suicidal ideation.
There is a strong correlation between untreated brain wounds and suicidal ideation. Symptoms of PTSD and TBI include: headaches, dizziness or balance problems, blurred vision, tinnitus, tiredness/fatigue or sleep problems, seizures, remembering things or solving problems, managing stress or emotional upsets, controlling temper/irritability, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and post-traumatic stress.
Evidence-based medicine, clinical outcomes, 18 clinical trials, and hundreds of studies confirm that hyperbaric oxygenation works where little done by the VA and DoD is effective to stanch the upward trending suicide epidemic. Over 877,450 brain wounded post-9/11 service members are untreated and/or misdiagnosed as suffering from mental health problems, not actual physical wounds to the brain.
A second clinical trial late last year produced equally positive results. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Veterans With Combat-Associated Post traumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Clinical Trial fills the alleged void claimed by the VA and DoD that “evidence” was lacking to recommend HBOT for PTSD and TBI. It is worth quoting the study:
“In 2018, the Veterans Affairs (VA) evidence-based synthesis program for TBI and PTSD stated that, based on the data available up to 2018, it was difficult to make clear decisions regarding the use of HBOT for PTSD and that further research in this field is needed. In 2023, the VA/ Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline for PTSD stated that the available studies suggested a benefit for HBOT on the outcome of PTSD; however, the absence of an adequate control condition limits the confidence in these results. The present data, together with previous studies in the same population, fill this gap and may thus support the recommendation of future guidelines for providing HBOT to many veterans with PTSD who are refractory to first-line recommended treatments.”
Put another way, failures by the VA and DoD to treat and heal brain wounds can be overcome by the use of HBOT. Patients get better. And data from 2- and 3-year follow ups demonstrate that the effects are long-lasting.
HBOT represents a proven therapeutic approach for TBI/PTSD, targeting the biological, physical consequences of traumatic events and BLAST injury. This randomized sham-controlled trial demonstrates that HBOT can improve brain connectivity and alleviate TBI/PTSD-related symptoms in veterans with combat-associated PTSD and TBI. Taken together, data from the most recent studies confirm the treatment’s safety profile. Efficacy, demonstrated over the last twenty years, supports the immediate use of HBOT for veterans not responding to psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, and the myriad other non-proven and non-FDA approved interventions that allow the suicide epidemic to continue upward. The roadblock is politics, not science or medicine.
And let us not forget the mismanagement of BLAST casualties for the last quarter century in the VA. Since 1990 at least, the definitive therapy for BLAST exposure is HBOT. Ignoring established textbook science needs to be investigated. As important, however, is the mountain of evidence and science that demonstrate the role that HBOT should be playing in treating and healing brain wounds.
We will explore in the next iteration of this Update how the Suicide Prevention budgets across the US government — now exceeding $3 Billion since 9/11 — have failed to reverse the suicide trend. Reprogramming appropriated funds from inadequate Suicide Prevention efforts could rapidly and radically advance healing of brain-wounded Veterans and show phenomenal return on investment.
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The TreatNOW Mission is ending service member suicides. Along the way, we have learned that we can end suicidal ideation, help end symptoms of PTSD, get patients off most of their drugs, and heal brain wounds to end the effects of Concussion, BLAST injury, mild TBI Persistent Post Concussive Syndrome, and polytrauma from AHI and Burn Pits. No Veteran or civilian has ever been killed while undergoing HBOT treatment for TBI/PTSD.
Information provided by TreatNOW.org does not constitute a medical recommendation. It is intended for informational purposes only, and no claims, either real or implied, are being made.