Objective To investigate effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels in patients with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI)and to analyze its therapeutic efficacy. Methods One hundred and eight patients with moderate or severe TBI were randomly divided into a control group (54 cases) and an HBO adjunctive therapy group (HBO group, 54 cases).Both groups received essential neurosurgical treatment and conventional drug treatment, and the HBO group was given one session of HBO therapy in addition. Serum CRP and TNF-α were detected, and the scores on the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) were measured before and after treatment. CRP was detected by turbidimetric immunoassay and TNF-α using ELISA. Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) scores were evaluated in a follow-up 6 months after injury. Results Average CRP, TNF-α and GCS measurements showed no statistically significant difference between the groups before treatment. After treatment, CRP and TNF-α were significantly lower and GCS scores significantly better in both groups, but patients in the HBO group were, on average, significantly better than the controls on all three measures.Six months later, GOS evaluation gave a significantly larger number of patients with a better prognosis in the HBO group compared with the controls. Conclusion HBO therapy can significantly decrease serum CRP and TNF-α after severe TBI, thus enhancing therapeutic efficacy.

Objective To investigate the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen combined with donepezil in the treat-ment of patients with vascular dementia(VD). Methods Sixty-four patients with VD were randomly divided into a control group(donepezil group,n=32)and a treatment group(hyperbaric oxygen combined with donepezil,n=32).The course of treatment was 12 weeks.All patients were tested using the Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE)and Hasegawa's dementia scale(HDS)before and after treatment. Results After 12 weeks of treatment,the MMSE scores and HDS scores of patients increased significantly in both the control and treatment groups.There were signifi-cant differences between the control and treatment groups in terms of MMSE and HDS scores.Conclusion Hyperbar-ic oxygen combined with donepezil could significantly improve cognition in VD patients.

Objective To investigate the effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on interleukin-1 β( IL-1 β) and interleukin-6 ( IL-6 ) levels in patients with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury ( TBI ) and to analyze its therapeutic efficacy.MethodsOne hundred and fifty-six patients with moderate or severe TBI were randomly divided into a control group and an HBO adjunctive therapy group with 78 cases in each.The control group received essential neurosurgical treatment and conventional drug treatment,and the HBO group was given one HBO therapy session in addition.IL-1 β and IL-6 were quantitatively determined using sandwich ELISA,and the patients'scores on the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) were measured before and after treatment.The Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) was used to evaluate in a follow-up 6 months after injury.ResultsThe average IL-1 β and IL-6 levels of the two groups and their average GCS scores were not significantly different before treatment.After treatment,IL-1 βand IL-6 levels decreased significantly and GCS scores increased significantly in both groups,but there were significant inter-group differences in all three measures.Six months after injury the GOS evaluation indicated that significantly more patients had better outcomes in the HBO group than in the control group. Conclusion Conventional treatment combined with HBO therapy can promote neurofunction recovery in TBI patients.The mechanism may be related to down-regulation of serum IL-1 β and IL-6.