Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is an efficient therapeutic option to improve progress of lots of diseases especially hypoxia-related injuries, and has been clinically established as a wide-used therapy for patients with carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness, arterial gas embolism, problematic wound, and so on. In the liver, most studies positively evaluated HBOT as a potential therapeutic option for liver transplantation, acute liver injury, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cancer, especially for hepatic artery thrombosis. This might mainly attribute to the anti-oxidation and anti-inflammation of HBOT. However, some controversies are existed, possibly due to hyperbaric oxygen toxicity. This review summarizes the current understandings of the role of HBOT in liver diseases and hepatic regeneration. Future understanding of HBOT in clinical trials and its in-depth mechanisms may contribute to the development of this novel adjuvant strategy for clinical therapy of liver diseases.
Most studies positively evaluated HBOT as a potential adjunct for LT, acute liver injury, NASH, fibrosis and cancer, especially for HAT (Fig. (Fig.1).1). This might mainly attribute to the anti-oxidation and anti-inflammation of HBOT, and HO-1 seems to be closely involved in HBOT-mediated protection. Furthermore, it would have better results for patients to apply HBOT as early as possible in most situations. However, the hyperbaric oxygen toxicity cannot be ignored. The strategy of HBOT should be prudently drawn up to assure safety and effectivity, and sometimes the nutritional antioxidant supplementation could be combined with HBOT to avoid oxygen toxicity. Even though HBOT could only treat HAT clinically at present, we believe that it would be the most promising adjuvant therapy for other liver diseases after in-depth studies.
Sun Y, Wen Y, Shen C, Zhu Y, You W, Meng Y, Chen L, Feng Y, Yang X, Chen ZB. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Liver Diseases. Int J Med Sci. 2018 May 22;15(8):782-787. doi: 10.7150/ijms.24755. PMID: 30008587; PMCID: PMC6036079.
