Cerebral Palsy

The first stop on the tour by Dr.

Maryellen Markley, the facility's patient care coordinator, is in front of two color brain scans that she said show the profound results of HBOT.

The first scan, she says, reveals that the autistic child scanned had decreased blood flow and profound neuroinflamation 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 nonverbal since the age of 1 1/2 , 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 of those 33 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 there have been no studies of HBOT and autism that use rigorous scientific models such as double-blind testing.

The only evidence involves a handful of autistic youngsters, not nearly enough to draw statistical conclusions.

"There is no evidence in any brain problem that a hyperbaric chamber helps," said Dr...

Read more...