Researchers Tel Aviv University have found a new treatment for
stroke and other brain damage that can help even months after the event.
By Hana Levi Julian, MSW, LCSW-R
The brain
courtesy of TAU
A doctor at Tel Aviv University has come up with
a new treatment for stroke and other issues
that can restore significant neurological function even years after the initial event.
Dr. Shai Efrati, a member of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, theorized
that high levels of oxygen could reinvigorate dormant neurons in brain tissue
chronically damaged by stroke, traumatic brain
injury and metabolic disorder.
The conditions are major causes of brain
damage and permanent disabilities such as motor dysfunction,
psychological problems, memory loss, outright dementia and more. Current
treatments and rehabilitation programs can help patients to heal, but with
limited success.
He and colleagues Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob of TAU’s School of Physics and
Astronomy and the Sagol School of Neuroscience recruited 74 post-stroke
patients, 6 to 36 months after the injury, whose condition had stopped
improving, for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).
The treatment involved 40 two-hour sessions five times a week in a high
pressure chamber that contains oxygen-rich air which increases oxygen levels in
the body ten-fold.
The findings of Efrati’s study, published in PloS ONE, showed significantly
increased neuronal activity after a group of affected patients received two
months of hyperbaric treatment, compared to a group that received none, he
said.
The study “opens the gate into a new territory of treatment,” said Efrati.
“It is now understood that many brain disorders are related to inefficient
energy supply to the brain. HBOT treatment could right such metabolic
abnormalities before the onset of full dementia, where there is still potential
for recovery.”
Source: Arutz Sheva
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164538#.UQRsCfIkS4K
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164538#.UQRsCfIkS4K
Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek
Robert Karl Stonjek
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