#Stem cell treatment for near drowning series

Our goal is to give physicians across the nation an opportunity to demonstrate similar dedication and proficiency by earning board certification. Harch exemplifies the commitment to patient care espoused by the ABPS. Such low-risk medical treatment may have a profound effect on recovery of function in similar patients who are neurologically devastated by drowning.”ĭr. “Although it’s impossible to conclude from this single case if the sequential application of normobaric oxygen then HBOT would be more effective than HBOT alone, in the absence of HBOT therapy, short-duration repetitive normobaric oxygen therapy may be an option until HBOT is available. “The startling growth of tissue in this case occurred because we were able to intervene early in a growing child, before long-term tissue degeneration,” said Harch. At the end of the treatment, 162 days after the near-drowning, MRI scans showed mild residual injury to the patient’s brain, but also a near-complete reversal of cortical and white matter atrophy. The young patient also demonstrated near-normal motor function, normal cognition, and improvements on nearly all neurological abnormality tests. After 39 sessions, her gait improved and her speech was assessed to be at a level better than before the accident. Harch began hyperbaric oxygen treatment in which the patient breathed pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber for 45 minutes a day, five days a week.

Not only did the patient became more alert and stop squirming, but she showed neurological improvement that included more hand and arm movement, eye tracking, and short-sequenced speech.Ībout a month later, the toddler was moved to New Orleans, where Dr. to the prevention, treatment, and forensic investigations of drowning. Fifty-five days after the near drowning, they began treating the child with normobaric oxygen – oxygen at sea-level pressure – for 45 minutes, twice a day through a nasal cannula. Although standard WHO statistics report almost 375,000 persons drowning each year. Harch and a team from the University of North Dakota began a bridging therapy. Risk factors for drowning include alcohol use, drug use. Because hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), which has been used for near-drowning victims, was not available near the family’s location, Dr. Drowning is more likely to happen when spending extended periods of time near large bodies of water. Paul Harch, director of Hyperbaric Medicine at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine and an American Board of Physician Specialties® (ABPS) Diplomate in Emergency Medicine. An MRI revealed deep gray matter injury and cerebral atrophy with gray and white matter loss. She was resuscitated at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, but could no longer speak, walk, or respond to voices.

In February 2016, the Arkansas girl was found without a heartbeat after being submerged in cold water for almost 15 minutes, reports say.

#Stem cell treatment for near drowning series

New Therapy Reverses Brain Damage in ToddlerĪ two-year-old girl who suffered severe brain damage after almost drowning in her family’s swimming pool has almost fully recovered, thanks to an innovative series of oxygen treatments.