HBOT treatment for patients with Alcoholism, Drug Addiction, and Narcotic Addiction in Post-Intoxication & Abstinence Period

Hyperbaric Oxygenation in the Treatment of Patients with
Drug Addiction, Narcotic Addiction and Alcoholism
in the Post-Intoxication and Abstinence Periods

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) was used in the treatment of 340 patients with Narcotic Addiction (narcomania), Drug Addiction (toxicomania), and alcoholism in the post-intoxication and abstinence periods; 223 of these were alcoholics, 68 toxicomaniacs, and 49 opium narcomaniacs. A group of 185 patients administered drug therapy alone. Exposure to hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments had a advantageous effect on the patient's status during sessions and persisted for some time after them. Patients with different premorbid symptoms and initial status experienced tranquilizing or bioenergizing effects of hyperbaric oxygen. . A comparative clinical and psychopathological examination of patients in both groups showed faster reduction of psychoneurological and somato-vegetative disorders which brings about roughly a twofold decrease of treatment duration and inhibiting the development of complications. The parameters of central hemodynamics normalized and myocardial status improved, which helped prevent the development of cardiovascular decompensation. Such a favorable time course of events appears to be due to the antihypoxic detoxifying and bioenergetic effects of HBOT Treatments.

Anesteziol Reanimatol. 1995 May-Jun;(3):34-9.