Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT)
Amongst a huge amount of research around alternative ways to enhance treatment of glioblastoma tumours, I came across multiple articles discussing efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (also referred to as HBOT).
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) involves breathing 100% pure oxygen inside a pressurized chamber to significantly increase the amount of oxygen in your blood and tissues. Glioblastoma cells thrive and multiply in oxygen deprived environments. Those cells kill healthy brain tissue by starving the tissue of oxygen. There are also articles that suggest HBOT enhances the effects of radiotherapy, although you would have to have HBOT directly before radiotherapy for it to have the biggest impact. However, HBOT has been found to alleviate some of the side effects of radiotherapy, which is why we had sessions alongside Kris's treatments. Necrosis of healthy brain tissue occurs during radiotherapy despite it being targeted at the tumour site. Necrosis is tissue being starved of oxygen. Therefore adding this intense oxygen back in made logical sense to me to limit the effects of radiation.
In my opinion, if we could get as much oxygen into Kris as possible, we could flood his brain tissue with oxygen and try to create an environment where the cells cannot increase or spread.
We went to our HBOT appointments 3 times a week during the 6 weeks, 5 days a week radiotherapy course. We couldn't find any data to suggest how often Kris should go so decided financially that we could afford 3 sessions a week. But even if you only go once a week, or even less, I think anything helps. And with this type of treatment, there are no nasty side effects, so in reality, other than financially, there is no negative impact. To us, we view any treatment with the following attitude:
"Even if we cannot guarantee it works, if it has no harmful effects and doesn't financially ruin us, why not try as it is better than nothing"
For this treatment, you simply sit in a chamber with a mask on breathing oxygen. Kris would take his Nintendo Switch or phone in and chill for an hour.
We were really lucky to find our local HBOT centre within 10 minutes of Addenbrookes in Cambridge (link below). Simon who runs it is brilliant. So kind and helpful, whilst obviously not offering medical advice, he can speak of people he has known who have benefited from it in similar situations. We were very lucky to find him and still visit. We are looking at increasing visits again as Kris has been having radiation side effects. After researching I have found this is common within the year following radiotherapy. Therefore we want to start HBOT regularly to see if it is of help.
As with all of this content, this is our personal experience and by no means medical advice, nor should you use it as such without contacting your own doctor in case you have any other conditions which may make you ineligible for this type of treatment. However we want to share the knowledge gained and put into practice the hundreds of hours spent reading medical journals in the early hours of the morning whilst everyone else is asleep and I find a rare moment of downtime! Please do your own research and understand all of these options before spending time and money. Having a brain tumour is a huge financial burden and often it is a balance of whether it will help vs financial impact. It is an impossible situation but if you need any advice or just a person to talk at, we will do our best to help whilst navigating our own journey.
Take care
Sam
https://oxygentherapycambridge.co.uk/
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