Effects of comprehensive hyperbaric oxygen therapy on the recovery of patients following surgery of incomplete cervical spinal injury

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of comprehensive hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on the recovery of patients following surgery of incomplete cervical spinal injury.Methods A retrospective analysis was made on the clinical data of 78 cases of incomplete cervical spinal injury by trauma collected from the medical file of our hospital from June 2010 to June 2012.All the patients had complete follow-up medical data,and no statistical significance could be noted in age,gender,injury sites,seriousness of injury etc.In addition,all the patients underwent nerve decompression and internal fixation within 2 weeks after injury.With the knowledge and consent of the patients and following approval by the Hospital Ethics Committee,the patients were divided into the HBO group (40 cases) and non-HBO(NHBO)group (38 cases).Following surgery,the patients in the NHBO group were treated with only routine treatment,while the patients in the HBO group received HBO therapy in addition to routine treatment.American Spinal Cord Injury Association (ASIA) Scores and Barthel's Index (BI) were respectively used to evaluate the spinal cord function and their daily life activity,before treatment,1 month and 3 months after treatment,6 months and 1 year after surgery.Results Total effective rates for the HBO group and the NHBO group were 90.0％ and 78.9％,with statistical significance,when comparisons were made between the 2 groups (P ＜ 0.05).Following 1 month and 3 months of treatment,and after 6 months and l year of surgery,statistical significance could be noted in the scores of ASIA and BI between the 2 groups (P ＜ 0.05),with the therapeutic effect of the HBO group being superior to that of the NHBO group.Recovery was most obvious in the first month after surgery.One month after surgery,ASIA scores,motor function scores and Barthel scores for both the HBO group and the NHBO group were all significantly higher,as compared with those before treatment,with the scores of the HBO group being significantly superior than those of the NHBO group and with statistical significance (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions Comprehensive HBO therapy was safe and effective for the treatment of incomplete cervical spinal injury.Clinical practice indicated that the longer the duration of treatment,the better the results,within 3 months after operation.Recovery of spinal cord function was most obvious,within the first 3 months after surgery.Proper HBO treatment could promote recovery of spinal cord function,decrease disability rate and improved the quality of life of the patients. Key words: Hyperbaric oxygen; Cervical spinal injury; Clinical effect