Randomized controlled trial of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in adhesive postoperative small bowel obstruction

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy is a controversial treatment for adhesive postoperative small bowel obstruction (ASBO), with only a few retrospective studies reported. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical impact of HBO therapy in the treatment of ASBO.

Patients with ASBO were randomly assigned to no-HBO (standard arm) or HBO (intervention arm). Patients of the intervention arm were treated once daily at a pressure of 2.0 atm absolute and received 100% oxygen. The primary endpoint was the success rate of medical treatment. This study was registered at the UMIN Clinical Trial Registry as UMIN000010399.

The no-HBO group included 40 patients, and the HBO group included 33 patients. Patient characteristics, time to oral intake, and length of hospital stay were similar between the two groups. No significant differences were noted between the no-HBO and HBO groups in the need for long intestinal tube decompression (20.0 versus 18.2%, respectively, p = 1.000) and the need for operative intervention (10.0 versus 18.2%, respectively, p = 0.332). The overall success rate of medical treatment was 72.5% in the no-HBO group and 78.8% in the HBO group (p = 0.594).

In this randomized controlled trial, HBO for ASBO has no additional effect in medical treatment.