The role of hyperbaric oxygenation in glioma therapy - a review of experimental studies

Glioma is one of the most aggressive brain tumors. Despite the progress made in recent years in better understanding the changes at the molecular level of glioma and in neuroimaging techniques, the survival rates of patients with glioma have not shown any significant improvement and only about 10% still survive the period of 5 years from the moment of diagnosis. An inherent feature of glioma is slow oxygenation of tumor areas (hypoxia), which supports its malignant nature, contributes to radio-chemo-resistance and, consequently, to relapse. Attempts to modulate the glioma microenvironment by increasing the content of cellular oxygen through the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) seem to be a promising, non-invasive concept complementing the basic treatment of the tumor. Although it has been used for years with good results in specialist centers in the treatment of various diseases, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness in divers, difficult-to-heal wounds, hearinglossor circulatory disorders, there is currently no consistent position on the importance of hyperbaric oxygen in cancer diseases, include in glioma. This paper reviews the results of in vitro and in vivo studies and clinical trials on the potential role of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in adjuvant therapy for glioma.