Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO2) for Persistent Post-concussive Symptoms After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2012-08-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

This is a Phase II randomized trial designed to describe the magnitude of change between baseline and follow-up outcomes for symptom surveys and a battery of neuropsychological tests administered at time points corresponding before and after 10 weeks over observation in four groups:

• A military population with post-concussion syndrome (mTBI) receiving local standard care

• A military population with post-concussion syndrome (mTBI) receiving local standard care and sham hyperbaric oxygen sessions

• A military population with post-concussion syndrome (mTBI) receiving local standard care and hyperbaric oxygen at 1.5 atmospheres sessions

• A otherwise similar group with PTSD but no history of TBI receiving local standard care Differences and variability of the tests will be used for determining the optimum primary endpoint(s) for future trial, as well as for refinement of sample size and power calculations for these studies. The groups undergoing hyperbaric sessions will be assigned to receive HBO2 or sham using a randomized, double blind design.

Active duty military (Army, Marine, Navy, Air Force) men and non-pregnant women residing in the United States and who will remain in the military for the entire study period, aged 18-65 years who have been deployed one or more times to the US Central Command since the initiation of Operation Enduring Freedom (October 7, 2001) who either:

• have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of traumatic events that occurred during the qualifying CENTCOM deployment, but have no diagnosed or suspected lifetime brain injuries resulting in loss or alteration of consciousness; OR

• have been diagnosed with at least one mild brain injury (mTBI) with persistent (> 4 months) symptoms sustained during one or more of those deployments

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command; U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Volunteers must have history of at least one mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) with persistent symptoms that meets all the following criteria:

• Brain injury that occurred more than 4 months prior to enrollment, with the most recent injury occurring no earlier than October 7, 2001.

• Most recent traumatic brain injury occurred while serving on active duty, and while deployed to the United States (US) Central Command (USCENTCOM).

• Most recent traumatic brain injury was caused by blast exposure or blunt trauma.

• Most recent traumatic brain injury resulted in at least one of the following: a period of loss of or a decreased level of consciousness (up to 30 minutes); a loss of memory for events immediately before or after the injury (up to 24 hours); or alteration in mental state at the time of the injury (becoming dazed or confused).

• Volunteers must also meet all the following criteria:

• 18-65 years old at the time of study enrollment.

• A TRICARE beneficiary at the time of consent and during study participation.

• Has current complaints of brain injury symptoms such as headache, dizziness, or cognitive or affective problems that score at least 3 post-concussive symptoms as assessed by the Ohio State University (OSU) Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Identification (ID) Method interview

• Has received current local care pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions for TBI and any concomitant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with no significant change in therapy for at least 1 month

• Willing and committed to comply with the research protocol and complete all outcome measures.

• Able to self-consent.

• Able to speak and read English, as primary language.

• Able to participate in all outcome measures.

• Able to equalize middle ear pressure.

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of brain injury of moderate or severe degree: duration of loss of consciousness at the time of injury greater than 30 minutes, or duration of post-traumatic amnesia greater than 24 hours, or brain injury of a penetrating etiology.

• History of brain injury not of traumatic etiology, such as stroke or drug-induced coma.

• Prior treatment with HBO2.

• Hyperbaric chamber inside attendant, professional (paid)underwater diver (commercial, operational/ military, instructor), or technical diver.

• Pregnancy, women who plan to become pregnant during the study period, women who do not agree to practice an acceptable form of birth control during the study period, or women who are breastfeeding;

• Those who are unable to participate fully in outcome assessments (Blind in one or both eyes; Deaf in one or both ears; or Ambulation with assistive devices

• Pre-existing diagnosis of a psychotic disorder(s): schizophrenia, dissociative disorder, and bipolar disease.

• Verifiable degenerative mental disease (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, senile dementia).

• Epilepsy or seizure disorder requiring anticonvulsants.

• Active malignancy, prior malignancy (except basal cell carcinoma) within the last 5 years.

• Presence of chronic debilitating disease (e.g., end-stage renal disease, end-stage liver disease, all types of diabetes with or without sequelae).

• Documented clinically significant uncorrected anemia

• Documented sickle cell disease.

• History of therapeutic ionizing radiation to the head.

• Verifiable diagnosis of learning disability.

• Positive urine test for an illicit substance(s).

• Any condition or use of prescribed medication (lithium, cisplatin, doxorubicin, or bleomycin) in which receipt of HBO2 would impact the safety of the individual.

• Anticipated administrative separation, prolonged temporary assigned duty (TAD/TDY) or deployment within 3 months after randomization

• Claustrophobia (unwilling or unable to enter hyperbaric chamber).

• Inability to protect airway or requires frequent suctioning; presence of tracheostomy

• Heart failure with ejection fraction < 50% (due to increased risk for precipitating acute lung edema during exposure to HBO2).

• Emphysema, chronic bronchitis, or bullous lung disease (due to risk for pulmonary barotrauma during hyperbaric decompression).

• Diabetes (relative contraindication related to risk of hypoglycemia).

• Presence of implanted device (e.g., cardiac defibrillator, intrathecal drug delivery device, cochlear implant) that poses increased risk to subject during hyperbaric exposure.