Maroon Joseph C
Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
Front Neurol. 2022 Jul 29;13:949536. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.949536. eCollection 2022.
Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy has recently been suggested for the treatment of different brain injuries as well as for physical and cognitive enhancement. The author recently carried out a self-experiment to obtain objective information on the effects of HBO2 therapy on neurocognition, cardiopulmonary function, neuroimaging and its effect on novel biomarkers such as telomere length and proteomics. In the following case report, the author will present and discuss the results and the differences between zero and one.
This is a personal case report on a single subject, myself, who underwent a protocol of 60 daily HBO2 therapy sessions within 3 months. Pre- and post-therapy objective evaluation measured included computerized cognitive assessment, brain imaging, cardiopulmonary exercise test, physical assessments and blood tests including telomere length and proteomics.
Neurocognitive results showed a 3.1-3.8% improvements in global cognitive function as well as all other cognitive function domains. In the perfusion MRI, there was a relative increase ranging from 43.3 to 52.3% in cerebral perfusion in various areas subserving memory, coordination, and visual motor cortex function. Similar improvements in cerebral perfusion were seen in the SPECT scans, which ranged from 8.79 to 16.12% increased perfusion in the temporal pole and entorhinal cortex subserving memory, as well as in the subcallosal area and lingual gyrus. MRI-DTI showed prominent increases in fractional anisotropy in several white matter areas including 9% in the body of the corpus callosum, 16.85% in for the fornix and 22.06% in the tapetum. In the physical domains, there were improvements in both anaerobic threshold, exercise endurance, muscle strength, gait speed and grip strength in the 7-15% range. The telomeres length was doubled and clusters of inflammatory proteins dropped around the 40th session and remained low at the 60th session.
The difference between zero and one in this single case study of HBO2 therapy confirmed improvement in objective biomarkers which measured cognition, memory, brain processing speed, athletic performance and neuroimaging modalities measuring cerebral perfusion, blood flow and tractography. Additional studies with larger sample size and randomized clinical trials using similar biomarkers are needed to confirm the results and to delineate the longevity of these improvements.
近期，高压氧（HBO₂）疗法被提议用于治疗不同类型的脑损伤以及促进身体和认知功能提升。作者最近进行了一项自我实验，以获取关于HBO₂疗法对神经认知、心肺功能、神经影像学以及其对诸如端粒长度和蛋白质组学等新型生物标志物影响的客观信息。在以下病例报告中，作者将呈现并讨论结果以及零和一之间的差异。
这是一份关于单个受试者（即本人）的个人病例报告，该受试者在3个月内接受了为期60天的每日HBO₂治疗方案。治疗前后的客观评估指标包括计算机化认知评估、脑成像、心肺运动测试、身体评估以及血液检测，包括端粒长度和蛋白质组学。
神经认知结果显示，整体认知功能以及所有其他认知功能领域均有3.1 - 3.8%的改善。在灌注磁共振成像（MRI）中，负责记忆、协调和视觉运动皮层功能的各个区域的脑灌注相对增加了43.3%至52.3%。单光子发射计算机断层扫描（SPECT）扫描也显示出类似的脑灌注改善，颞极和内嗅皮层（负责记忆）以及胼胝体下区和舌回的灌注增加了8.79%至16.12%。磁共振弥散张量成像（MRI - DTI）显示，包括胼胝体体部9%、穹窿16.85%和毯状回22.06%在内的几个白质区域的分数各向异性显著增加。在身体方面，无氧阈值、运动耐力、肌肉力量、步速和握力均有7 - 15%的改善。端粒长度在第40次治疗左右翻倍，炎症蛋白簇在第60次治疗时仍保持较低水平。
在这项关于HBO₂疗法的单病例研究中，零和一之间的差异证实了客观生物标志物的改善，这些生物标志物测量了认知、记忆、脑处理速度、运动表现以及测量脑灌注、血流和纤维束成像的神经影像学模式。需要进行更大样本量的额外研究以及使用类似生物标志物的随机临床试验来证实这些结果，并确定这些改善的持久性。
