A free, local study is testing whether oxygen treatments improve the lives of kids who have cerebral palsy.

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Cerebral palsy patients 'dive' into treatment

A free, local study is testing whether oxygen treatments improve

the lives of kids who have cerebral palsy.

By Gottschlich

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hlichDaytonDailyNews>

Staff Writer

*DAYTON *| Corey Hume can barely use his arms and legs and spends most

of his time in a wheelchair.

Still, the second-grader from Maine Elementary School in Beavercreek

rides horseback, plays soccer and swims as part of his therapy for

cerebral palsy, a general term for a group of permanent brain injuries

that affect an infant in the womb, during birth, or in the months

following birth.

He also dives.

The 8-year-old son of and Cara Hume of Beavercreek is one of five

children so far to " dive " into a hyperbaric chamber at -

Air Force Base Medical Center as part of a study to see if pure oxygen

delivered in a pressurized chamber can improve motor functions in

children with cerebral palsy.

" Hyperbaric oxygen has been used all over the world, " said Dr.

Lacey, a pediatric neurologist with Children's Medical Center who is

leading the joint study with State University's Boonshoft School

of Medicine and Kettering Medical Center.

" Tens of thousands of kids have been put in these chambers mostly

because traditional medicine doesn't have a whole lot to offer kids with

cerebral palsy. Unfortunately, there have not been many good research

studies to show that it works. "

Cerebral palsy afflicts about two children out of every 1,000 born in

the United States, according to CerebralPalsyFacts.com. Patients may

have rigid muscles and limited motor skills, speech difficulties,

learning disabilities and other problems.

*How it works*

It's called a dive, but no actual diving, as into a water tank, is

involved. Instead, children seated in a chamber about the size of a

hospital room wear a plastic hood over their heads. Each is tended to by

a nurse or health clinician. The atmospheric pressure inside the chamber

is raised, mimicking the experience of scuba diving, and pure oxygen is

delivered to the patient to stimulate damaged or dormant brain cells.

" These brain cells are sleeping or idling; they're not fully

functional, " Lacey said. " If you can get more oxygen deeper inside the

brain, then you can awaken them. That's the hope and the theory. "

The sessions last about an hour, five days a week for eight weeks. For

comparison purposes, half of the children receive 100 percent oxygen;

the other half receive the equivalent of room air, which is about 21

percent oxygen.

Researchers will look at each child's gross motor functions when the 40

treatments are completed and again three and six months after that.

If Lacey's study, scheduled to be completed in 2009, shows the therapy

is effective, it could help convince insurance companies and the

government to cover the cost, which averages about $100 per treatment,

Lacey said. It could take up to 100 sessions to be effective, he said.

The treatments are free, however, to the families that participate in

the study, thanks to a $1.77 million federal grant the hospitals landed

with the help of U.S. Rep. Dave Hobson, R-Springfield.

But researchers still need more than 80 children to sign up, and they're

looking for volunteers. The children must be 3 to 8 years old and have

never received hyperbaric treatments.

Once the study is completed, the children who did not receive 100

percent oxygen will be invited back for treatment if the therapy is

shown to be effective.

For the Humes and son Corey, the study was an opportunity they could not

resist.

" I think it's worth the investment (of time). And for people in the

Dayton area, it's never going to be any closer, it's not going to be any

cheaper and it's probably not going to be any safer, " Cara Hume said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or agottschlich@....