[Effect of hyperbaric oxygenation on the dynamics of the alcohol abstinence syndrome]

Hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) was used in 40 patients with the alcoholic abstinence syndrome (AAS), Stages I and II severity, either as a component of multiple modality (in combination with drugs) or the only treatment. The results of clinico-psychoneurological examination have demonstrated that the use of HBO in the treatment of patients with the AAS significantly accelerates the time of AAS elimination as compared with the control group receiving drug therapy alone. An HBO session markedly reduces psychoneurological and somatovegetative symptomatology which is attended by a reduction in systolic blood pressure and in the heart rate. Analysis of the electrocardiographic findings obtained in patients with alcoholic involvement of the heart at the height of the AAS has shown that HBO helps improve the myocardial status. The best results are achieved in patients with Stage II AAS when HBO therapy (two sessions daily) is started at early stages of the syndrome.