[Hyperbaric oxygenation in the acute period of craniocerebral injuries].

A study was made of the effect of hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) on the clinical progress of craniocerebral trauma by means of a comparative analysis of the time course of the clinical symptoms and the occurrence of complications seen in the main group of patients given HBO (103 subjects) and the control group not given HBO (also 103 subjects). Some of the parameters of external respiration and central hemodynamics were examined in these patients during HBO. It was disclosed that HBO exerts a prophylactic action as regards the development of mental disorders in the acute period of brain trauma and some complications (meningitis, suppuration of operative wound, bedsores, pneumonias). HBO had no noticeable effect on the rate and degree of the recovery of motor and speech functions. In part of cases, HBO eliminated the hyperventilation syndrome and the pathological rhythm of respiration and myocardial hypodynamia.