Effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on complete blood count

Complete blood count (CBC) is a routine diagnostic procedure for patients and a part of routine health inspection for healthy individuals. The effect of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO₂) on CBC is not known. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of HBO₂ on blood parameters in CBC with long-term HBO₂ therapy. In this study, patients received HBO₂ at the department of Underwater and Hyperbaric Clinical Medicine. CBC results were obtained at specific time points during HBO₂ therapy. The study recruited a total of 140 patients who met the research inclusion criteria. Patients were treated for 55.5 ± 41 days. During the treatment period, they underwent HBO₂ sessions for an average of 35.9 ± 24.9 times. Five groups were created as follows: before the treatment; between 1-20 sessions; between 21-40 sessions; between 41-60 sessions; and more than 60 sessions. The results of the present study showed that a number of alterations occurred in CBC values in patients who received HBO₂. HBO₂ reduces the number of platelets, but this was not clinically significant. According to the results, HBO₂ does not have any effect on hemoglobin, hematocrit, red blood cells, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, red blood cell distribution width, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, platelet count, platelet distribution width and mean platelet volume. Except for a temporary reduction in platelet count, HBO₂ has no effect on CBC parameters. Medical professionals may use the outcome of this study in their routine examinations, as it suggests that the changes in CBC driven by HBO₂ are not statistically significant, and could be disregarded. More research is needed to examine the effects of HBO₂ on other blood parameters.