“Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is safe and non-invasive, and we think it may help COVID-19 patients with pneumonia avoid the need for an artificial breathing machine.” -Dr. Sylvain Boet,Researchers at The Ottawa Hospital are exploring more than 50 research projects to support the world-wide effort to find better ways to treat and prevent COVID-19.
The Ottawa Hospital Foundation’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund is providing seed funding for a number of these projects, including a study led by Dr. Sylvain Boet that will test if hyperbaric oxygen therapy may be able to help some people with COVID-19 pneumonia.
When COVID-19 takes over the lungs, it can feel like you can’t get enough air into your body, no matter how much you gasp. When this kind of COVID pneumonia sets in, the only option is often to hook the patient up to an artificial breathing machine (a ventilator), with a tube down the throat (intubation).
Unfortunately, only half of people with COVID-19 will survive after this invasive, last-resort treatment. Dr. Sylvain Boet and his colleagues believe that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) may be able to help some people with COVID-19 pneumonia avoid mechanical ventilation and increase survival.
HBOT involves placing patients in a pressurized room or chamber so they can breathe 100% oxygen. It can increase the delivery of oxygen to tissues by 10 to 20-fold and can also boost the immune system and help the body fight infections. Small studies in other countries suggest that HBOT may help treat patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, but more research is needed.
Dr. Boet and his team will initiate a study of HBOT in people with COVID-19 pneumonia at The Ottawa Hospital, and will work with colleagues around the world to explore a large multi-site clinical trial.
“Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is safe and non-invasive, and we think it may help COVID-19 patients with pneumonia avoid the need for an artificial breathing machine.” -Dr. Sylvain Boet, scientist and anesthesiologist at The Ottawa Hospital and associate professor at the University of Ottawa.
Research team at The Ottawa Hospital/uOttawa: Drs. Sylvain Boet, Lana Castellucci, Dean Fergusson, Monica Taljaard, John Kim, Pierre Cardinal
Core resources at The Ottawa Hospital: Ottawa Methods Centre
The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa.
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