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 – Dose and Response of Intrathecal Hydromorphone in Patients Undergoing Cesarean Section at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System
In the United States the incidence of cesarean deliveries have increased over the last
several decades and is currently approximately 30% nationwide. The anesthesia and analgesia
for elective c-sections vary between institutions.
Parturients present a unique challenge for the anesthesiologist as the mother has to care not
only for herself, but also for the newborn postpartum. While intrathecal opioids provide
adequate pain relief, they do so at the cost of bothersome side effects for patients, such as
pruritus and nausea/vomiting.
Intrathecal hydromorphone has started to be explored as a new option for intrathecal
analgesia. A study done by Beatty et al. showed in a retrospective review that 40 mcg of
intrathecal dilaudid was safe and effective as compared to intrathecal morphine for analgesia
after cesarean delivery. Additionally they showed no difference in side effect profiles of
the two medications. Mhyre et al. investigated the use of 100 mcg of intrathecal dilaudid
with hyperbaric bupivacaine in varying dosages for labor analgesia. The results were
inconclusive, but the dosage of hydromorphone was reported to be without adverse effects.
Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems has successfully instituted the use of
intrathecal morphine with superior analgesia but with undesired side effects, most notably
pruritus. Recent drug shortages of duramorph have prompted investigators to seek alternative
options for post cesarean section analgesia. The investigators are interested in determining
the dose, efficacy, and side effect profile of intrathecal hydromorphone. Although our
institution has never utilized intrathecal hydromorphone for our patient population, it has
been studied at various other institutions where it has been found to be safe and efficacious
with an acceptable side effect profile.
Repeat spinal anesthesia in cesarean section: A comparison between 10 mg and 12 mg doses of intrathecal hyperbaric (0.05%) bupivacaine repeated after failed spinal anesthesia: A prospective, parallel group study.
Abstract: Spinal anesthesia for cesarean section is not a 100% successful technique. At times, despite straightforward insertion and drug administration, intrathecal anesthesia for cesarean section fails to obtain any sensory or motor block. Very few studies and...
Endocan reduces the malign grade of gastric cancer cells by regulating associated protein expression.
Abstract: Endocan, which has been identified to be low expressed in gastric cancer, was found to be positively related to the differentiation level of gastric cancer in vivo and in vitro. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of endocan in gastric...
