Oklahoma Study Could Help Soldiers With Brain Injuries

For some soldiers, returning home from war doesn't end the fighting.
William Duncan says, "we have a lot of them wind up in county jail because they got angry when they were out partying or whatever."

As Vice President of Development at the International Hyperbaric Medical Foundation, Duncan knows all too well how brain injuries effect soldiers returning from war.

"All of a sudden, these stellar young men and women wind up in the criminal justice system."

Fortunately, for soldiers returning to Oklahoma there's hope.  It's called Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and it's been around for 75 years.  Duncan says it's good old navy/air force medicine to rebuild neurostructures.

State Representative John Bennett says the FDA has selected OSU as one of two sites in the nation to study how this therapy can help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder return to normalcy.  HE says the results could determine if the FDA authorizes it as part of standard care.

So far the results look very positive.

"One hundred percent of everybody who's been treated here in the state of Oklahoma by Dr. Rock at Oklahoma State University has had significant clinical improvement," says Duncan.

The therapy consists of 40 treatments.  Each treatment takes about an hour.  Duncan says the results are giving soldier's much more than peace of mind.

"The first treatment the photophobia goes away, by the fifth treatment their headaches go away and by the 10th treatment they can usually sleep through the night."

If OSU's research proves that Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy works, State Representative Bennett says state and federal programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, could fund the treatment.Oklahoma Study Could Help Soldiers With Brain Injuries

Posted: Tuesday, January 8 2013, 09:54 PM CST