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/
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Recent HBOT News
Simple and Procedural Reaction Time for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Clinical Trial.
Simple reaction time (SRT) and procedural reaction time (PRT) are speed-of-processing tasks in the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) that may be sensitive to mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The investigators measured SRT and PRT throughput (correct responses per minute) at baseline, 6 weeks, and 13 weeks in military personnel with mTBI randomized to local care or 40 chamber sessions (sham-1.2 atmospheres absolute [ATA] air, hyperbaric oxygen-1.5 ATA O2). Scores were assessed at baseline using univariate analysis of variance and across time with repeated measures methods. Data reported as throughput standard scores (mean = 100, SD = 15). Seventy-two participants with ongoing symptoms after mTBI enrolled in the study (three female, median age 31 years, mean three lifetime concussion events, most recent mTBI 23 months prior). Sixty-four had Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics data at 13 weeks. SRT and PRT throughput standard scores were comparable across groups at baseline. Over time, SRT scores did not change in the hyperbaric oxygen or sham groups and decreased in the local care group. PRT throughput standard scores increased from baseline to mid-intervention and decreased from mid-intervention to postintervention in all groups. Repeated measures change over time in SRT (p = 0.23), and PRT (p = 0.17) scores were not different among groups. This study may be underpowered to detect statistically significant change.
Assessing inhalation injury in the emergency room.
Abstract: Respiratory tract injuries caused by inhalation of smoke or chemical products are related to significant morbidity and mortality. While many strategies have been built up to manage cutaneous burn injuries, few logical diagnostic strategies for patients with...
Adjunctive Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy promotes successful healing in patients with refractory Crohn’s disease.
To investigate de adjunctive effect of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in a group of patients with refractory Crohn’s disease. A total of 29 subjects with refractory Crohn’s disease were submitted to daily sessions of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, in a 2800 Sechrist Monoplace Hyperbaric Chamber (Sechrist, USA) pressurized to 2.4 ATA. Each session lasted 2 hours. The endpoint was closure of enterocutaneous fistulas and complete healing of Pyoderma Gangrenosum and perineal Crohn’s disease. A total of 829 HBOT sessions were performed and no complications were noted. Overall success rate was 76% (22 cases). Pyoderma Gangrenosum and enterocutaneous fistulas had the highest successful healing rates (100% and 91%, respectively).
