A Promising Long-COVID Therapy

Even though most COVID infected patients recover, 10–30% continue to suffer with persistent symptoms that have devastating effects on their quality of life. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is incredibly effective at initiating cellular healing responses in the body and so it is no surprise that HBOT would become a leading therapy for long-COVID.

  • Long-COVID can have a wide variety of symptoms affecting many body systems. Long-COVID is technically defined as physical, neurocognitive and/or psychiatric symptoms that persist for 2 months or longer after having recovered from the the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Neurocognitive and psychiatric symptoms include decreased executive functions, anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Physical symptoms include fatigue, dyspnea, ageusia, anosmia, insomnia, headaches and systemic widespread pain. Symptoms are not limited to this list. If you feel like, “something isn’t quite right” after recovering from COVID-19 you may be experiencing Long-COVID.

  • Clinical research on the use of HBOT for Long-COVID show that most patients need only 10-15 HBOT sessions to complete an effective treatment protocol. For severe cases of post COVID-19, additional sessions will be needed for cellular repair and regeneration.

Research on HBOT for Long-COVID

There is a wealth of research showing the efficacy of HBOT for treating Long COVID. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, HBOT had been shown to be an effective therapy for post-viral sequelae. The following studies show that HBOT is able to repair a broad spectrum of damage that the SARS-CoV-2 virus inflicts on the brain and body.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves neurocognitive functions and symptoms of post-COVID condition: randomized controlled trial

Scientific Reports, 2022

Shani Zilberman-Itskovich, Merav Catalogna, Efrat Sasson, Karin Elman-Shina, Amir Hadanny, Erez Lang, Shachar Finci, Nir Polak, Gregory Fishlev, Calanit Korin, Ran Shorer, Yoav Parag, Marina Sova, and Shai Efrati

This randomized, sham-control, double blind trial evaluated the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT or HBO2 therapy) on post-COVID-19 patients with ongoing symptoms for at least 3 months after confirmed infection. Clinical outcomes were associated with significant improvement in brain MRI perfusion and microstructural changes in the supramarginal gyrus, left supplementary motor area, right insula, left frontal precentral gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, and superior corona radiate. These results indicate that HBOT can induce neuroplasticity and improve cognitive, psychiatric, fatigue, sleep and pain symptoms of patients suffering from post-COVID-19 condition.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for the treatment of long COVID: early evaluation of a highly promising intervention

Clinical Medicine, Nov. 2021

Tim Robbins, Michael Gonevski, Cain Clark, Sudhanshu Baitule, Kavi Sharma, Angel Magar, Kiran Patel, Sailesh Sankar, Ioannis Kyrou, Asad Ali, Harapo S Randeva

The results presented in this study suggest the potential benefits of HBOT for treating long COVID, with statistically significant results following merely 10 sessions. In this study, HBOT yielded a statistically significant improvement in the Chalder fatigue scale, global cognition, executive function, attention, information processing and verbal function.

Effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on functional and structural connectivity in post-COVID-19 condition patients: A randomized, sham-controlled trial

NeuroImage Clinical, Oct. 2022

Merav Catalogna, Efrat Sasson, Amir Hadanny, Yoav Parag, Shani Zilverman-Itskovich, Shai Efrati

Post-COVID-19 condition refers to a range of persisting physical, neurocognitive, and neuropsychological symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Abnormalities in brain connectivity were found in recovered patients compared to non-infected controls. This study indicates that HBOT improves disruptions in white matter tracts and alters the functional connectivity organization of neural pathways attributed to cognitive and emotional recovery in post-COVID-19 patients.

Preliminary Research on the Effect of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Patients with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome

Journal of Clinical Medicine, Dec. 2022

Diana Kitala, Wojceich Labus, Jerzy Kozielski, Przemyslaw Strzelec, Mariusz Nowak, Grzegorz Knebel, Piotr Dyjas, Krzysztof Materniak, Jolanta Kosmala, Jolanta Pajak, Jolanta Czop, Barbara Janda-Kalus, Barbara Marona, Anna Nowak Wrzyna, Marcin Gierek, Jan Szczegielniak, Marek Kucharzewski

Negative consequences and medical complications of COVID-19 can persist for up to several months after initial recovery. These consequences can include stroke, diabetes, decreased lung diffusing capacity, sleep apnea, pulmonary fibrosis, arrhythmia, myocarditis, fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, heart rate fluctuations, sleep problems, memory problems, nervousness, anxiety, and other neurological disorders. Thirty-one patients who reported symptoms related to previous COVID-19 disease took part in this study and underwent 15 HBOT sessions. HBOT coincided with significant and sustained improvement in quality of life, endurance and strength, specific gasometric and spirometric parameters, and working memory and attention.