The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) Although 85% of infected patients remain asymptomatic, 5% show severe symptoms such as hypoxaemic respiratory failure and multiple end organ dysfunction (MODS) requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission with a mortality rate of about 2 8% Since a definitive treatment is yet to be identified, preventive and supportive strategies remain the mainstay of management Supportive measures such as oxygen therapy with nasal cannula, face mask, noninvasive ventilation, mechanical ventilation and even extreme measures such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) fail to improve oxygenation in some patients Hence, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been proposed as a supportive strategy to improve oxygenation in COVID-19 patients HBOT is known to increase tissue oxygenation by increasing the amount of dissolved oxygen in plasma HBOT also mitigates tissue inflammation thus reducing the ill effects of cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients Though there is limited literature available on HBOT in COVID-19 patients, considering the present need for additional supportive therapy to improve oxygenation, HBOT has been proposed as a novel supportive treatment in COVID-19 patients [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Indian Journal of Anaesthesia is the property of Wolters Kluwer India Pvt Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy: Can it be a novel supportive therapy in COVID-19?