Breathing oxygen under pressure – equivalent to being 45 ft under the sea – is being tested as a new treatment for endometriosis.
This painful condition, where tissue similar to that lining the womb is found elsewhere in the body, is estimated to affect about 1.5 million women in the UK.
In a new clinical trial, patients will sit in a diving chamber for 90 minutes at a time, for five days a week for eight weeks, breathing pure oxygen.
The theory is that the treatment will reduce the inflammation that plays an important part in the development of the condition.
Inside the chamber, like the one above, patients will breathe 100 per cent oxygen (room air contains 21 per cent oxygen)
Women will sit in the hyperbaric chamber for 90 minutes at a time, five days a week for eight weeks, breathing pure oxygen
In endometriosis, cells similar to those in the lining of the womb grow elsewhere, typically on or around reproductive organs in the pelvis or abdomen, including the fallopian tubes and ovaries. In some women, they can also grow on and around the bladder, cervix, intestine and elsewhere.
As with the womb lining, these patches of endometrial tissue break down and bleed during a period, but cannot leave the body.
The resulting build-up of abnormal tissue can lead to inflammation, cysts and scar tissue. Bands of fibrous tissue called adhesions may also form, causing pelvic tissues and organs to stick to each other.
Symptoms include severe pain and extreme tiredness: endometriosis is also one of the most common conditions linked to female infertility.
There’s currently no cure: treatments range from painkillers to hormone therapy – taking the contraceptive pill, for instance, stops the endometrial tissue growing and prevents ovulation (reducing endometriosis-related pain).
There is no cure for endometriosis. Current treatments include painkillers and even old-fashioned aids such as hot-water bottles
Some women are offered surgery to remove the endometrial tissue – this is estimated to recur in 20 to 30 per cent of cases. In a new trial at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Hospital in Toronto, Canada, 64 women aged 18 and over will have standard treatments, including painkillers, and half will also have hyperbaric therapy. Inside the chamber, patients will breathe 100 per cent oxygen (room air contains 21 per cent oxygen).
The higher atmospheric pressure increases the amount of oxygen getting into the blood and tissues, and hyperbaric chambers – which were originally developed to treat the bends, or decompression sickness, in divers – are now being used to treat a growing number of conditions, including burns, carbon monoxide poisoning and wounds.
Scientists in the new trial point to research on mice which has suggested that inflammation and low levels of oxygen are linked to the development of endometriosis and its symptoms.
And a 2022 study published in the International Journal of Reproductive BioMedicine found that mice with endometriosis could be successfully treated with hyperbaric therapy.
Dr Ahmed Ismail, consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at Queens Clinic, Harley Street, London says that the new treatment shows: ‘some potential in reducing inflammation and possibly alleviating symptoms in small studies.
However he adds: ‘the risks and complications associated with prolonged oxygen exposure, along with the limited scientific evidence, suggest that this treatment should not be rushed into.
‘ Further research is required before advocating HBOT as a standard treatment for women with endometriosis.’
