• Robert A van Hulst, Jack J Haitsma, Jan Klein, and Burkhard Lachmann.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
• Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2003 May 1;23(3):143-8.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of hyperbaric conditions on brain oxygenation, intracranial pressure and brain glucose/lactate levels in healthy non-brain-traumatized animals.Design And SettingProspective animal study in a hyperbaric chamber.SubjectsTwelve adult Landrace/Yorkshire pigs.InterventionsThe animals were normoventilated in a pressure-controlled mode according to the open lung concept first at normobaric pressures (FiO2 of 0.4 and 1.0) and subsequently in the hyperbaric chamber at 1.9 and 2.8 bar (both at an FiO2 of 1.0). Under these conditions brain oxygen tension and intracranial pressure were recorded and brain glucose/lactate levels were measured by microdialysis.ResultsAt normobaric conditions, increasing the FiO2 from 0.4 (baseline) to 1.0 resulted in a significant increase in brain oxygen tension from 33 +/- 14 to 63 +/- 28 mmHg (P<0.05). Compared with baseline, both hyperbaric conditions (at an FiO2 of 1.0) led to a significant increase in brain oxygen tension to 151 +/- 65 mmHg (P<0.001) at 1.9 bar and to 294 +/- 134 mmHg (P<0.001) at 2.8 bar.ConclusionsIf there is a need for increased oxygenation in the brain, then one way to achieve this is to apply hyperbaric conditions at 100% oxygen. Compared with an atmospheric pressure with a FiO2 of 0.4, a nine-fold increase (900%) in PbrO2 values can be reached by increasing the FiO2 to 1.0 and the pressure to 2.8 bar. In this study, hyperbaric oxygen pressure in the brain did not lead to changes in intracranial pressure or in brain glucose/lactate levels.

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