A small randomised trial of individuals with post-COVID syndrome discovered that hyperbaric oxygen therapy enhances the guts's potential to contract appropriately. The analysis is introduced at EACVI 2023, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

"The study suggests that hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be beneficial in patients with long COVID," mentioned examine creator Professor Marina Leitman of the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University and Shamir Medical Centre, Be'er Ya'akov, Israel. "We used a sensitive measure of cardiac function which is not routinely performed in all centres. More studies are needed to determine which patients will benefit the most, but it may be that all long COVID patients should have an assessment of global longitudinal strain and be offered hyperbaric oxygen therapy if heart function is reduced."

Most COVID-19 victims totally recuperate, however after the preliminary sickness roughly 10-20% of sufferers develop lengthy COVID, additionally referred to as post-COVID situation or syndrome. Symptoms embrace shortness of breath, fatigue, cough, chest ache, speedy or irregular heartbeats, physique aches, rashes, lack of style or scent, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, dizziness, insomnia, mind fog, melancholy and anxiousness. Patients with post-COVID syndrome may develop cardiac dysfunction and are at elevated danger of a spread of cardiovascular problems.

This randomised managed double-blind trial evaluated the impact of hyperbaric oxygen remedy (HBOT) on the cardiac operate of lengthy COVID sufferers. HBOT includes inhalation of 100% pure oxygen at excessive strain to extend supply to the physique's tissues, which is especially helpful for tissues which are starved of oxygen attributable to damage or irritation. HBOT is a longtime remedy for non-healing wounds, decompression illness in divers, carbon monoxide poisoning, radiation damage and sure kinds of infections.

The examine enrolled 60 post-COVID syndrome sufferers with ongoing signs for no less than three months after having delicate to average symptomatic COVID-19 confirmed by a PCR take a look at. Both hospitalised and non-hospitalised sufferers have been included. Severe COVID circumstances have been excluded. Patients have been randomised to HBOT or a sham process in a 1:1 ratio. Each affected person had 5 periods per week over eight weeks, for a complete of 40 periods. The HBOT group acquired 100% oxygen by way of a masks at a strain of two atmospheres for 90 minutes, with 5 minute air breaks each 20 minutes. The sham group breathed 21% oxygen by masks at 1 ambiance for 90 minutes. All individuals underwent echocardiography at baseline (earlier than the primary session) and 1 to three weeks after the final session.

Echocardiography was used to evaluate left ventricular international longitudinal pressure (GLS), which is a measure of the guts's potential to contract and chill out lengthwise. It signifies how nicely the guts is functioning and will help detect early indicators of coronary heart illness. A wholesome coronary heart can have a GLS worth of round -20% which implies that the guts muscle is ready to correctly contract and chill out within the longitudinal route. Reduced GLS is an early marker that the guts shouldn't be capable of contract and chill out successfully.

At baseline, almost half of examine individuals (29 out of 60; 48%) had diminished GLS. Of these, 13 (43%) and 16 (53%) have been within the sham and HBOT teams, respectively. The common GLS at baseline throughout all individuals was -17.8%. In the HBOT group, GLS considerably elevated from -17.8% at baseline to -20.2% after the intervention (p=0.0001). In the sham group, GLS was -17.8% at baseline and -19.1% after the periods, with no statistically important distinction between the 2 measurements.

Professor Leitman mentioned: "It was notable that almost half of long COVID patients had impaired cardiac function at baseline according to GLS despite all participants having a normal ejection fraction, which is the standard method for measuring the heart's ability to contract. This means that ejection fraction is not sensitive enough to identify long COVID patients with reduced heart function."

She concluded: "The findings suggest that HBOT promotes recovery of cardiac function in patients with post-COVID syndrome. More research is needed to collect long-term results and determine the optimal number of sessions for maximum therapeutic effect."

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