Cerebral Palsy

The first stop on the tour by Maryellen Markley, its patient-care coordinator, is in front of two color brain scans that she said show the profound results of HBOT.

The first scan, she said, reveals that an autistic child had decreased blood flow and profound neuro-inflammation before the oxygen therapy.

"Look at how much has changed in the second scan," Markley said, pointing.

"Better blood flow, less inflammation, more connections between the two sides of the brain.

This child, a 6-year-old, was completely non-verbal since the age of 11/2, and after 66 hours of hyperbaric oxygen therapy was talking again." Markley said she has treated more than 30 autistic children with HBOT and "every single child ...

had consistent quality-of-life improvements." The improvements, she said, were more pronounced in kids most afflicted by the characteristics of autism: the repetitive behaviors and the impairments in sensory perception, social interaction and communication.

Critics argue that no studies have been done that use scientific models such a double-blind testing.

They caution that the treatment has been tried only on a handful of autistic children nationwide, not nearly enough to draw valid conclusions.

"They are making extraordinary claims without extraordinary evidence," Iyama said.

Evidence is exactly...

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