Hyperbaric oxygen therapy holds promise for opioid addiction

The research team recruited participants in a local opioid treatment program to test the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Published in Addiction Nursing, the first paper describes a pilot study of 31 participants showing that those receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy as part of a program of methadone cones were able to maintain a significantly reduced dose of 4.

"While methadone helps opioid-addicted people stabilize and return to normal life, it's still the opioid they take every day," said study co-author Matthew Layton, a professor at Washington State University.

The second study, published in the journal Pain Management Nursing, was a small randomized controlled trial of eight participants that looked more closely at the relief of withdrawal symptoms

"While some of the challenges lie with methadone, for others it's difficult to stay in treatment early because finding the right dose to stabilize symptoms is difficult to achieve," said first author Marian Wilson, associate professor and specialist in pain management and opioids at Washington State University's School of Nursing Substance use disorder

Based on the joint findings of the two studies, the researchers are seeking funding for a clinical trial to confirm their findings in a larger sample of participants who will be followed for several years

The idea for the two studies came from earlier work by a Washington State University researcher showing that hyperbaric oxygen therapy reduced pain in mice and reduced physical signs of opioid withdrawal

"We were curious to see if it could work in humans," said study co-author Raymond Quick, a professor in Washington State University's College of Arts and Sciences

If their findings are confirmed in a larger clinical trial, hyperbaric oxygen therapy could become a nonpharmacological tool that providers can use to help people manage pain and potentially reduce opioid use

"Last year, during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 100,000 people died from the opioid epidemic," Leighton said

In addition to Layton, Wilson, Quick and others at WSU, collaborators on these studies include Karen Steinick, medical director of the Spokane Hyperbaric Oxygen Center, and Alvina Jessie, program manager for the Spokane Regional Health District

Funding for this work came from Washington State Initiative Measure 171, which is administered by the university's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program

Journal Reference :

1. Marian Wilson, Tamara Odom-Maryon, Karen Stanek, Trevor Roush, Joseph Muriungi, Alvina Jesse, Raymond M.