The threat of Improvised Explosive Devices or IED’s and other explosive blasts are dangers that soldiers are exposed to on a daily basis in Afghanistan and at other military hotspots. Furthermore, even the operators of powerful weaponry may expose them to similar shockwaves. These all appear to be some of the likely causes of the development of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) in the weeks or months to come.
Double blind hyperbaric studies of TBI sufferers are currently underway to establish whether chronic TBI can be successfully treated using HBOT at low increased atmospheric pressure (around 1.5 ata), which, if successful, will offer hope to the hundreds of thousands of TBI sufferers.
The following article supports this argument
“In January, 2010 a peer reviewed journal published a case series report of two brain injured airmen who were casualties of an IED in Iraq. Both were going to be medically boarded out of service. Their military physician prescribed Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT 1.5tm). Both of them recovered and they were both retained on active duty”.
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The application of the SOS Hyperlite, with its higher pressure of 33.5 psi, 75fsw, 2.3bar (3.3ata) or 23msw makes it suitable in the battlefield for treating acute blast injuries, although its use in that field remains as yet unproven, at least in the US.
Further research will need to be conducted to validate the present data to establish whether more aggressive hyperbaric treatment (likening blast injury to an air/gas embolism for example) will benefit acute traumatic blast injury at an early stage after such exposures and before the initial symptoms appear to have disappeared. The treatment of air or gas embolism is an approved US medical condition, accepted by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, as are severe blood loss anaemia, crush injuries, acute traumatic ischemia and acute thermal burn injuries, all experienced in battlefield medicine
Related Journals: -
2009 - Wright: Treatment of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury with HBOT
2000 – Wright: Relevance of HBO to the Combat Zone
Related Articles: -
SOTECH – The Invisible Wounds of War
Roadside Bomb Injury? Break out the Emergency Diving Medical Equipment – Defence Interaction Intelligence Agency.
IHMA Public Policy Bulletin
