Medical researches at the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital are nearing the end of a study that could determine new treatment for troops suffering from a traumatic brain injury.

The Defense Department study, which began in early summer aboard four military installations including the base, administers treatments of pure oxygen in hyperbaric chambers to military subjects with TBI, exploring another possible use for a treatment long used by the Navy for diving-related injuries.

Lt. Cmdr. Jason Gordon, a second-year resident in Family Medicine at the hospital and assistant investigator with the study, said the research was based on some promising early evidence.

“There have been some anecdotal studies with some reassuring results,” Gordon said. “Take a person with a mild brain injury, suffering from post-concussive symptoms, and they seem to not get worse, which is good, as our first responsibility is to do no harm. And the patient appears to benefit somewhat, though that is subjective.”

An added difficulty with brain injuries is that improvement in patients is largely self-reported; there is frequently no visual or objective way to chart changes in symptoms. Thus, the ongoing study with hyperbaric intervention is designed to meet the highest standards of medical research: a placebo-controlled, double-blind course, conducted with subjects at multiple centers, including Ft. Carson, Ft. Gordon and Camp Pendleton, as well as Camp Lejeune.

Lejeune was chosen to participate, Gordon said, because of its high population of TBI patients due to frequent war zone deployments.

“This type of research is considered to be requirements-driven research,” he said.

So far, eight Lejeune troops with TBI have participated in the research, which includes one-hour oxygen interventions five days a week, for 40 sessions in all. The hospital has leased a single multi-place hyperbaric chamber located in an outbuilding trailer, where the interventions take place.

Troops are assessed with neurological testing before entering the program, at the midpoint, and at the conclusion. Gordon said researchers plan to finish recruiting for the study around January, though it’s not yet clear when the research will conclude.

The director of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Research Program, Army Col. Scott Miller with Army Materiel Development Activity in Ft. Dietrich, Maryland, said the study being concluded aboard the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital is only one of two research efforts involving hyperbaric oxygen using Camp Lejeune Marines as subjects.
The Naval Operational Medical Institute in Pensacola, Fla., has involved local troops in a study examining the effects of different doses of hyperbaric oxygen, rather than focusing on cognitive and symptom relief outcome, as the research aboard does. A third hyperbaric study, conducted by Air Force physicians at the San Antonio Military Medical Center, isolated cognitive outcomes from hyperbaric interventions, such as memory and concentration. Now complete, that study is in the data analysis phase.

“We want to provide the best care to our wounded warriors and have good evidence on what the results might be,” Miller said.

In total, he said, 200 troops were participating in the studies as subjects.

Miller said study data at the conclusion of each program would be released in a series of articles, to be shared with civilian medical counterparts, as well as military personnel. Research from the study the Naval Hospital is completing is expected to be published by late summer.

But even if the research yields consistently positive outcomes, the way ahead with treatment may not be immediately clear. One factor to consider is cost: a single course of hyperbaric treatment will cost approximately $16,000, Gordon said.

“There’s a large implication here from a financial aspect, of if this becomes approved, how that would be funded,” he said.

Contact military reporter Hope Hodge at 910-219-8453 or hhodge@freedomenc.com.