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Neurology (Expert Forum)
Brain stem hemorrage
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Brain stem hemorrage
by S-Miler, Sep 12, 1998 12:00AM
On Sept 12, 98 I posted a message regarding a severe brain stem hemorrge my mother had and is recovering very from although very very slow. You responded, thank you, that it is unusual for someone to have undamaged areas in the brain stem to take over due to not having a lot of excess area such as in the cerebral cortex. She has been recovering for 7 months which includes the 23 days in a coma and is just starting to get some movement in the left side which had been paralyzed. We are having a hard time getting the insurance co. to pay for continuing therapy. Is there something else we can do to help here recover, none of us has any background in therapy to help her. I have heard that oxygen therapy has helped in brain injuries. Have you heard of anyone else using this treatment sucessfully? Has anyone ever made this type of recovery from and injury like this. All the nuerologists can not believe she is doing so well but no one seems to be able to help us to help her. I lok forward to hearing from you soon.
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Thanks for your feedback and questions. It is always humbling and, in a
positive way, to be proven wrong by a better than expected recovery from
a patient. The hyperbaric oxigen (HBO) therapy mentioned in your message
is an attempt to minimize neural tissue injury from the lack of oxigenation
by providing the patient with higher than normal partial pressure of
oxigen. A survey of the medical literature over the last 20 years did not
reveal any clinical case reports of such therapy in hemorrhagic stroke.
However, as the three sample articles below demonstrate, it has been a
procedure that has been attempted in both acute and sub-acute neural
injuries. These articles were not intended and are not written in layman's
term, but if you are interested, they can be found in any good university
library:
Visual recovery from radiation-induced optic neuropathy. The role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
J Clin Neuroophthalmol 1993 Jun;13(2):98-101 (ISSN: 0272-846X)
Effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on long-tract neuronal conduction in the acute phase of spinal cord injury.
J Neurosurg 1981 Oct;55(4):501-10 (ISSN: 0022-3085)
Hyperbaric oxygen for treatment of closed head injury.
South Med J 1994 Sep;87(9):933-6 (ISSN: 0038-4348)
Because the efficacy of this procedure is not well established, I cannot
predict how your health insurance provider will respond to this suggestion.
I hope this information is helpful. Best of luck.
This information is provided for general medical education purposes only.
Please consult your doctor regarding diagnostic and treatment options.
