Those who think that just sitting in a hyperbaric (high-pressure oxygen) chamber unvaryingly treats all ills – from carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness after a too-rapid ascent from a dive, major bone and skin infections, wounds that fail to heal, sudden loss of sight or hearing, dementia to crush injuries, burns, post-COVID symptoms, and severe anemia – are mistaken.
When the treatment is indicated, diverse and personalized protocols implemented by experts need to be followed.
Those who go to private hyperbaric facilities in Israel and abroad – that are unlicensed, not supervised by health authorities, and may not be run by a specialist or even a physician – are even more misguided.
When implemented properly and for the correct number of sessions, high-pressure oxygen therapy (HBOT) can indeed work medical “miracles,” according to Prof. Shai Efrati.
Headin up the Sagol Center
Efrati has been the founder and director of the Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research at Shamir Medical Center (formerly Assaf Harofeh Medical Center) in Tzrifin (near Rishon Lezion) since 2008.
He has spent decades researching the field and giving treatments, turning his HBOT facilities into the largest and most advanced in the world, and treating in eight different chambers, an average of 400 patients daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Efrati heads a multidisciplinary team in which a variety of professionals work together on each case.
He is a trailblazer in HBOT and has done groundbreaking research. Most recently, he and his team have been providing over 60 two-hour sessions of therapy to soldiers and civilians suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since Hamas’s murderous terror onslaught on October 7 last year, who have not responded to drugs or talk therapy.
The researchers said those who underwent HBOT had a decline in all clinical symptoms of PTSD, alongside improved connectivity in neural networks.
“Our unique therapeutic protocol affects the biological brain ‘wound’ associated with PTSD and effectively reduces typical symptoms such as flashbacks, hyper-vigilance, and irritability. We believe that our findings give new hope to millions of PTSD sufferers and their families all over the world.”
The Defense Ministry funds HBOT for veterans who need it at a cost of NIS 40,000 per patient undergoing 60 sessions.
They have also pioneered in curing post-concussion syndrome (PCS) caused by injuries in battle using one to three treatments.
“Victims of PCS don’t understand what happened to them,” said Efrati.
“The damage can’t be seen in regular MRI or CT scans. PCS results from being hit on the battlefield and mainly affects combat soldiers who feel they are unable to return to their daily routine. The neurological diagnosis manifests itself in unbearable headaches, dizziness, and difficulty concentrating. The brain damage can be diagnosed with a special test that is done in the laboratory.”
EFRATI’S TEAM showed that by using the pressure chamber, it is possible to treat the awful syndrome and achieve an improvement in brain function.
He has just published a 266-page, highly praised English-language book for intelligent laymen entitled – How the New Science of Enhanced Medicine Elevates Peak Performance and Repairs Brain Injuries. The book has been described in reviews as presenting “a groundbreaking approach to reclaiming health.”
“For hundreds of years, medical treatments have involved giving chemicals – medications – and using knives (scalpels) as surgeons. With HBOT, we create changes in the patient’s environment to get a biological effect,” Efrati told The Jerusalem Post.
The air in Earth’s atmosphere is made up of about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. HBOT uses pure oxygen under pressure that helps the immune system fight bacteria and generate stem cells.
Stem cells are special cells in your body that help create blood cells, brain cells, and muscle cells that can self-heal.
The pressure is increased several times higher than normal air pressure, so the lungs can absorb much more oxygen than would be possible by breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure.
The therapy helps the body heal by creating new capillaries (angiogenesis), in which blood carries oxygen through the body, especially in injured tissues. It also helps white blood cells to protect the body from infection.
“Ours is a center of medical excellence. Doctors come from abroad to learn from us. But there is a lot of fake[ness]. The Health Ministry may catch some clinics and close them down, but then new ones pop up. At one illegal clinic, there was an explosion, and patients can be harmed.”
The only other licensed and supervised HBOT centers are at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem, and the private Elisha Hospital in Haifa. Another one is due to open at Ziv Medical Center in Safed.
“If someone was overcome by poisonous carbon monoxide, we give oxygen to compete with it. If suddenly, a person loses his sight, it can be because oxygen doesn’t reach it. Oxygen can serve as anti-fungal therapy, create regeneration, and heal wounds. Stroke, concussions, and PTSD involve malfunctioning brain tissue,” said Efrati.
Efrati, also an associate professor at the Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine, received his MD degree from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba and completed his residency at Shamir Medical Center, specializing in internal medicine and nephrology.
He also completed training in diving and hyperbaric medicine at the Israel Naval Institute in Haifa. Since 2008, he has served as chairman of the Israeli Society for Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine.
He and his team have published numerous hyperbaric studies in medical journals that show that even after a two-year follow-up, improvement in patients’ conditions continues.
In one recent study, HBOT was shown to induce cognitive enhancements in healthy aging adults via mechanisms involving regional changes in cerebral blood flow. The main improvements include attention, information processing speed, and executive functions, which usually decline with aging.
STUDYING PATIENTS suffering from long COVID, they showed that those treated with HBOT experienced significant improvements in their overall cognitive function and within specific brain regions responsible for attention and executive function. They also showed enhancements in energy levels, sleep patterns, psychiatric symptoms, and pain management.
A member of his team is Tel Aviv University’s Dr. Keren Doenyas-Barak from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and the Sagol Center, who led a PTSD study just published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
“PTSD is the mental outcome of exposure to a life-threatening event,” she told the Post.
“About 20% of those who have undergone such an experience will develop PTSD that can lead to substantial social, behavioral, and occupational dysfunctions. In extreme cases, the disorder can severely impact their quality of life, family life, and professional performance.
“Past studies on therapy-resistant sufferers have found changes in the structure and function of brain tissues, or a ‘biological wound’ that explains such treatment resistance. We wanted to determine whether hyperbaric therapy can help these patients, and it did.”
The study entitled “Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Veterans With Combat-Associated Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Clinical Trial,” which began in 2019 and ended in the summer of 2023 – before the Israel-Hamas War began – included 98 male IDF veterans diagnosed with combat-associated PTSD who had not responded to either psychotherapy or psychiatric medications.
The results were encouraging, with improvements observed both at the clinical level and in fMRI imaging. The group that received hyperbaric therapy showed improved connectivity in brain networks, alongside a decline in all typical PTSD symptoms. In the placebo group, on the other hand, no change was observed in either the brain or clinical symptoms.
They concluded that HBOT presents a novel therapeutic approach for PTSD, targeting the biological consequences of traumatic events. This randomized, controlled trial shows that HBOT can improve brain connectivity and alleviate PTSD-related symptoms in veterans with severe PTSD. Taken together, the treatment’s safety profile and efficacy support its use for veterans not responding to psychotherapy and a variety of others, and it can help victims around the world.
The Friends Association of Shamir Medical Center and the Sagol Center are holding a benefit concert with Idan Amedi and Rita sat Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium on December 11, at 7 pm. The proceeds will benefit IDF and civilian victims of severe PTSD by providing HBOT treatment. The cost per ticket is NIS 1,500, a contribution recognized by the tax authorities.