Does hyperbaric oxygen help brain injury or stroke?

Helps breain injury: For traumatic brain injury, one randomized trial provided fair evidence that hbot might reduce mortality or the duration of coma in severely injured tbi (traumatic brain injuries) patients - but reported poor functional outcome so be cautious for stroke - most observational studies reported favorable, and sometimes dramatic, results, but failed to prove that these results can be attributed to hbot.

Hyperbarics Strokes: There is no evidence that hyperbaric oxygen works on these types of problems. There are specialists that do offer this therapy to patients but you should ask about the research results before committing to this treatment regimen. Medicare does not cover this indication, so the personal cost and professional profit can be large.

Yes: We have used hbot for brain injuries of all types for over 10 years and have gotten excellent results. If i ever have a condition of this kind, an hbot chamber is one of the first places i want to be. Jain's textbook of hyperbaric medicine is a good starting place for info about the effects of hbot.

Not in the US: In the us, stroke is not an approved indication for hyperbaric oxygen. There may be some "private" hyperbaric oxygen chambers which could treat a brain injury or stroke on an "off-label" basis, which means you'd have to pay out-of-pocket. In japan, treatment of stroke (more than 3 hours after the event) is a treatable indication, but i would not recommend flying to japan just for this treatment.