HBOT Conversations:
Dr. Paul Harch & Inflammation
Dr. Paul G. Harch, M.D. has used hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat more than 100 different conditions, including stroke, dementia, autism, and traumatic brain injury. His goal is to help his patients get their lives back using hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
He is the author of The Oxygen Revolution and is considered an International expert and pioneer in the field of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). His informative, and comprehensive guide on HBOT has helped countless souls better understand what HBOT is and how it directly affects the body at the genetic level.
This episode on Inflammation is the first in a 9 episode series that will be released weekly with Dr. Harch.
Watch the Podcast
HBOT News podcast host, Edward di Girolamo, talks with special guest and HBOT expert, Dr. Paul G. Harch, MD. This is the first of nine episodes with Dr. Harch examining the God-given miracle of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
In this episode, we dive into how HBOT is a game-changer for inflammation. Harch explains that inflammation is the driving factor for countless chronic illnesses, but thankfully Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is a natural proven way to suppress inflammation.
Harch summarizes a fascinating study done in 2008, by Dr. Cassandra Godman. Her team took skin biopsies and extracted the normal tissue, then they examined the cells that lined the tiniest blood vessels in the tissue. Next, they put these cells in a petri dish and put them in a hyperbaric chamber and gave him a single hyperbaric treatment. Afterwards, they did a mass gene array analysis for 48 hours. What happened next was ground-breaking in better understanding the role that HBOT has on inflammation.
At the end of 24 hours 8,101 of our 19,000 protein coding genes in our 23 chromosomes were either significantly turned on or turned off & suppressed. That single HBOT treatment turned on the anti-inflammatory genes and the growth and repair hormone genes, and the largest cluster suppressed were the pro-inflammatory genes.
Our inflammatory reaction is inescapable when an injury occurs. But, when the patient receives hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment after an injury (the sooner the better), it can have an overwhelming positive influence on the inflammatory reaction at any place along the spectrum. Harch continues to explain that the anti-inflammatory effects of hyperbaric oxygen are wide-ranging.
Harch spoke of the Navy’s experience with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, as the Navy really kind of dominated this field for many years. The Navy reported that if you can get someone in a chamber within one hour of coming out of the water – when they’re symptomatic for decompression sickness – then the first hyperbaric treatment is curative in 90% of cases. Everyone thought that HBOT was treating bubbles in the brain at that point, but the reality is they were treating inflammation. We now know that it’s the inflammatory reaction in the brain after the bubbles passed that Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is treating; not the bubbles.
HBOT isn’t new, it dates back well over a hundred years. It’s still misunderstood, because many believe that HBOT therapy is a treatment for diseases. But, the reality is that HBOT is a treatment for disease processes, and it’s these processes that cause the diseases. We treat the inflammation that causes the disease processes, and in turn we treat the disease. That’s the power of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
Stay tuned for all nine episodes that will be release each Friday for the next eight weeks.
Guest

Dr. Paul G. Harch, MD
Dr. Paul G. Harch, M.D. is a clinician in emergency medicine and hyperbaric medicine who is the former director of the University Medical Center Hyperbaric Medicine Department and LSU Hyperbaric Medicine Fellowship. Currently, he is a Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Section of Emergency Medicine at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. He graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine after graduating from the University of California at Irvine with magna cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa honors.
Dr. Harch initiated and continues to be a private practice that has resulted in the largest case experience in neurological hyperbaric medicine in the world. In this practice, he adapted the concepts of conventional hyperbaric oxygen therapy to wounds in the central nervous system, which spawned the subsequent academic and research practice. Harch HBOT is the best place to receive oxygen therapy treatments, and patients have traveled from more than 50 countries to be treated by Dr. Harch himself.
Harch HBOT – Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Clinic
5216 Lapalco Blvd.
Marrero, LA
504-309-4948
hbot@hbot.com
https://hbot.com/
Subscribe Now, It’s Free !
Recent HBOT News
Clinical Trial – Comparative Study of the Analgesic Effect of Spinal Anesthesia or Infiltration Anesthesia for Hemorrhoidectomy
Background and Objectives: Postoperative analgesia and early recovery are relevant for
hospital discharge after hemorrhoidectomy. This study investigated the postoperative
analgesic effect with local infiltration compared with spinal block.
Methods: This randomized study included 40 patients aged 18 to 60 years old. Local group (LG)
received local infiltration under general anaesthesia; spinal group (SG) received a
subarachnoid block. LG received general anaesthesia with propofol, atracurium and propofol
infusion as well as a local infiltration of 20 ml 0.75% ropivacaine. SG received 2 ml of 0.5%
hyperbaric bupivacaine. Analgesic supplementation was with 50µg of fentanyl for LG and 1%
lidocaine for SG. There were assessed: postoperative pain intensity, sphincter relaxation,
motor blockade of lower limbs, time to discharge, analgesic dose over 1 week and adverse
effects.
Clinical Trial – Spinal Anesthesia Associated With General Anesthesia in Coronary Artery Bypass
CONTEXT: In patients eligible for coronary artery bypass surgery, anesthesia should provide a
number of conditions that exceed the limits of cardiovascular stability, myocardial
protection and other organs. Moreover, the combination of general anesthesia and spinal
anesthesia lessens the homeostatic, metabolic, hormonal and immunosuppressive changes. The
goal of this research was to evaluate the consumption of fentanyl citrate in intra-operative
in Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass under spinal
anesthesia associated with general anesthesia.
METHODS: Clinical, prospective, randomized and double covered study, approved by the Research
Ethics Committee. Fifty-six patients candidates for CABG with CPB, after signing the Terms of
consent, were randomized and divided into two groups: GI – General and GII – General +
subarachnoid. General anesthesia was induced according to the weight of each patient and
maintenance with isoflurane and fentanyl. Spinal anesthesia was induced with 20 mg of 0.5%
hyperbaric bupivacaine and 200 mcg of morphine, the patient is placed in cephalo-position
slope of 45 degrees for 10 minutes in Group II. In the statistical study was performed using
the Mann-Whitney test; the level of statistical significance was set at 5%.
Deep tissue biopsy vs. superficial swab culture, including microbial loading determination, in the microbiological assessment of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections (SSTIs).
Abstract: Thirty-two patients affected by SSTIs including DFIs were enrolled between 2013 and 2014. Superficial swab was obtained before and after cleansing with sterile saline, and after ultrasonic debridement; deep tissue biopsy was obtained from ulcer base. Samples...
