CARD Study Finds Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Ineffective Treatment for Children with Autism

CARD, the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Inc., has conducted a double-blind placebo-controlled trial which found that HBOT, consisting of 24% oxygen delivered at 1.3 atmospheres of pressure, does not have a significant effect on symptoms of autism. The study is summarized on the CARD blog.

autism

Alternative Autism Treatment Researchers Claim Hodgepodge Of Autism Treatments Works

Dr. James Neubrander, a physician, and Dr. Philip De Fina, a clinical neuropsychologist, of Woodbridge, N.J gave a lecture today on Staten Island in which they claimed that a hodgepodge of treatments - a combination of changes in diet, vitamin supplements, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and shots of methylcobalamin -- a form of vitamin B-12 -- has changed lives. As reported on silive.com the researchers claim to be able to change the environment of the brain to help normalize electrical chemical activity, which brings about positive change.

The two alternative treatment researchers claim it could be decades before their theories are incorporated into mainstream science. Cost of treatment is expensive and is estimated to cost a couple of thousand dollars a month.

Step right up folks; get your hodgepodge of alternative autism treatments here.

autism

Anecdotal Evidence Indicating HBOT Effective In Treating Autism

The autism community at large has benefited from the rise of evidence based approaches generally in treating and educating people with neurological and other disorders. An evidence based approach to evaluating interventions ranks the types of evidence available in support of the efficacy and safety of an intervention in treating a particular disorder. Parents seeking treatment for their autistic children have historically been confronted by a range of non evidence based, sometimes bizarre, and sometimes dangerous, interventions.

The insistence by various professional agencies on evidence based standards has helped sort the wheat from the chaff of autism interventions. Evidence based standards have been used to identify a useful intervention like Applied Behavior Analysis, to date the only autism intervention consistently ranked as an effective autism intervention based on the quantity and quality of the research and evidence in support of its effectiveness. Ineffective interventions such as Facilitated Communication, NAET, and swimming with dolphins, to name but a few, have been rejected.

In an evidence based system the lowest ranked type of evidence is anecdotal evidence, personal accounts of the effects of treatment. Such evidence is not subject to any controls which typify scientific inquiry. The interpretation of the evidence is typically very subjective and not subject to any measurement system to provide any accuracy of results. Anecdotal evidence can also be tainted by placebo effects. Despite all these drawbacks though anecdotal evidence is still evidence, albeit of the lowest order. While it should not, by itself, be taken as conclusive in determining the effectiveness of an intervention it should not simply be discarded either. Anecdotal evidence can suggest areas that should be investigated further by professionals conducting research in accordance with scientific procedure and standards.

In Honolulu the Hyperbaric Medicine Center has been conducting a study on the effects of Hyerbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBOT) on children with autism. In the procedure, as reported by KHNL 8, children are placed in a chamber pressurized down to about 18 feet of seawater wearing a mask. They receive 100 percent oxygen at which level they are supposed to receive the healing properties of hyperbaric therapy. Alyshia Busby's daughter was a participant in the HBOT study. The family had tried a range of different treatments for their daughter's autism without seeing any results. With HBOT treatment, according to Ms Busby, there was immediate benefit to her daughter who showed more spontaneous language, attention and focus.

Conclusive evidence of HBOT efficacy in treating autism? No, far from it. But it is some evidence and it will be interesting to read the published results of the Hyerbaric Medicine Center's study.

Autism Study Shows Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Benefits Autistic Children

I guessed right about the therapy study announcement from the USAAA conference in Boulder Colorado this week. Dr. Dan Rossignol released the findings of a study in which autistic children are reported to have made significant improvements in speech, versus those in a control group, after receiving 40 treatments in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The improvements are said to include more language, new words, more words put into sentences and improvements in cognition. If the Lovaas 1987 study is any guide this study will undoubtedly receive intense scrutiny; some from professional sources and some from those with a more ideological bent.

A report on CBS4 from Denver tells of the Wrangham family of Boulder whose 16 year old daughter Rachel has an autism spectrum disorder and whose family has purchased a $15,000 hyperbaric oxygen chamber for their home and who report language gains from using the Chamber. Rachel herself reports that the chamber treatment has helped her organize her thoughts. As the CBS4 report indicates "Doctors believe the hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps children with autism by increasing blood flow to areas of the brain which may have lower levels of oxygen than in typical children.The hyperbaric oxygen therapy has also been found to help with sleep and intestinal problems often associated with autism.

http://cbs4denver.com/health/local_story_223173252.html

Major Autism Treatment (Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment ?) Announcement Promised at USAAA Conference

In a post on July 15, 2007 Autism Research Paradigm Shift I commented on a new autism research center at the University of Minnesota and the Autism Research Paradigm Shift which would see Autism as "both preventable and treatable, not by any one method but by a combination of behavioral and biomedical approaches. Autistic kids are not defective, they are sick but otherwise normal kids, and thus, recoverable." The paradigm shift is also the theme of the USAAA 2007 Autism and Asperger International Conference Denver, Colorado August 8-11, 2007 Treating Autism as a Medical Disorder; Bringing Biomedical Treatments and Behavioral & Developmental Therapies Together. The USAAA is co-hosting the conference with the Autism Society of Boulder Colorado.

http://www.usautism.org/usaaa_conference_overview_2007.htm

Experts on autism and Asperger's Syndrome will speak about biomedical and educational interventions with a focus on ways to improve the quality of life for the affected individuals and their families/caregivers. There is a wide range of speakers including Temple Grandin, Raun Kaufman, Dan Rossignol, David and Mark Geier, and Doreen Granpeesheh.

The keynote presentation will undoubtedly be controversial, at least on the internet, if not at the actual conference. The address by David Geier and Dr. Mark Geier is titled "Epidemiology and other evidence on what caused the autism epidemic and new treatment protocol for autism".

Dr Doreen Granpeesheh, PhD, BCBA, honored recently by the Autism Society of America as "Professional of the Year", will provide a two part presentation on the conference theme "Bringing Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Therapy and Biomedical Treatments Together". The conference website profiles Dr. Granpeesheh's impressive experience and background in studying and treating Autism Spectrum Disorders including her role as Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) and more than 25 years of study and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

In a press release issued yesterday "USAAA announced that a major medical announcement will be presented at the conference regarding a study on autistic children that showed significant clinical improvements in many core areas including language, socialization, cognitive awareness, and decreased irritability. This intervention has been used with clinical success in several other chronic neurological conditions including cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, closed head injury, and stroke."

http://www.prleap.com/pr/88329/

The press release does not identify the intervention referred to but there have been ongoing clinical studies of HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment) which has been used to treat all the above injuries so my otherwise uninformed and purely speculative guess is that the announcement will involve results of an HBOT clinical study.

Hopefully the bold promise of the press release is matched by the actual results in the study and, if confirmed, by future successful application of the intervention be it HBOT or otherwise.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Autism Study

The image above is that of a Hyperbaric Chamber found on the Hyperbaric Medicine Center's web site which provides a description of HBO Treatment:

The treatments are non-invasive (no needles or pills are involved), and painless.

A patient undergoing treatment spends a prescribed amount of time sitting comfortably in a very special body-length chamber, where pure oxygen is administered and atmospheric pressure is increased and controlled under meticulous conditions. The dosage, which includes pressure, time and frequency of treatments, is suited to each patient’s specific diagnosis, and has been prescribed as a recognized protocol by the top hyperbaric medicine experts in the world.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is based on simple concepts. The air we breath has a small percentage of oxygen. Breathing 100% oxygen in a normal room increases that level of oxygen in the bloodstream by about 3% to 5%. However, breathing pure oxygen in an increased-pressure environment delivers twenty to thirty times that amount of oxygen to your body’s tissues. This is especially important in tissues affected by poor circulation such as brain tissues damaged by stroke or head injury.

In order to provide patients with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, a pressurized environment is used. The patient is placed within a hyperbaric chamber, which is then pressurized to therapeutic levels. Trained hyperbaric medical staff will determine the pressure and the length of treatment based upon carefully studied and recommended protocols.

The Hawaii Reporter is carrying an article on a study about to begin in 20 centers across the US on the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in treating autism. Autism has been plagued by "treatments" and "therapies" with no scientific basis or evidentiary support for their effectiveness from NAET to swimming with dolphins to Facilitated Communication. But evidence to substantiate or refute the effectiveness of treatments and therapies can not be obtained unless studies are done.

HBOT is based on the premise that in some cases a persons brain may suffer from a lack of oxygen supply. The author of the article, Maryellen Markley, Ph. D., Director of the Hyperbaric Medicine Center in Honolulu, claims that HBOT can improve the quality of life for autistic persons. It will be interesting to see what evidence to support that claim emerges from the study when the results are published in June 2007.

"Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can compensate for decreased blood flow by increasing the oxygen content in the blood and body tissues and can even normalize oxygen levels in oxygen-deprived (ischemic) tissue. In addition, a number of studies have shown that HBOT has potent anti-inflammatory effect on the brain.

Furthermore, recent evidence demonstrates that HBOT increases the production of an important form of cells from human bone marrow, which may aid recovery from neurodegenerative diseases including autism.

Based upon these findings, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is being used more and more to permanently improve both symptoms and the quality of life in children with autism. ...

The Hyperbaric Medicine Center's Autism Study begins this month with 20 children, and each child will be treated with 20 hours of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Each child will be tested by experienced clinicians in the community both before and after their 20 hours of therapy, and the results are expected to be published by late June, 2007. "

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?0d6f3ff1-6ab8-4e15-b8f6-16ec3f608c82

http://www.hyperbaricmedicinecenter.com