Oxygen therapy gets thumbs-up

Published on Sunday 23 August 2009 22:38

AN OXYGEN treatment given to divers with the "bends" is to be tried out on cancer patients suffering after radiotherapy.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves sitting in a sealed chamber and breathing pure oxygen while the air pressure is slowly increased.

The treatment is used to tackle decompression sickness in divers, and to help injured elite footballers heal more quickly.

Doctors hope it will also alleviate unpleasant side effects associated with radiotherapy for cancer in the pelvic region.

Pelvic cancers include those of the cervix, ovaries, prostate, testicles, bowel, bladder and womb.

Most patients return to normal within a few weeks of stopping treatment. But about 30 per cent develop long-term problems, including diarrhoea, stomach cramps and frequent bowel movements.

Professor John Yarnold, from the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital, one of the scientists leading the trial, said: "It's very difficult for patients who have already suffered cancer and radiotherapy to be left with these debilitating side-effects. We hope to answer once and for all whether hyperbaric oxygen therapy will improve their quality of life."