Hyperbaric chamber can lessen opioid withdrawal symptoms

Researchers at Washington State University have found that using a hyperbaric chamber relieves symptoms of opiate withdrawal, which could be a step toward fighting the addiction.

Nonmedical prescription opioid use and opioid has doubled in last decade. Current methods of addiction treatment, such as methadone, can provide a weaning type of recovery from withdrawal but can be addictive as well.

Ray Quock, pharmacologist and Washington State University psychology professor, looked into using a hyperbaric chamber to ease the symptoms of withdrawal. What he found was that the oxygen rich environment produced much less severe withdrawals in mice compared to those who had not been in the chamber.

The study involved giving mice a drug similar to heroin twice a day for four days. On the fifth day, scientists injected naloxone to induce withdrawals. Splitting the group of mice into one that received 30- or 60-minute treatments in a hyperbaric chamber at 3.5 times atmospheric pressure and a group that did not.

In the group that received the hyperbaric chamber, the mice's withdraw dropped by at least half for every type of symptom.

Quock and his colleagues wrote the study is "the first to demonstrate this phenomenon in an animal model of opiate dependence."

The researchers hope to persuade the FDA to approve the use of hyperbaric chambers for drug withdrawal. While the chamber use is approved for 14 other conditions including carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness and wound healing, patients currently would need to pay for the procedure themselves because it is not covered by insurance.

"Our research and work that we hope to do in the future should stimulate some clinical researchers to come up with clinical evidence to convince the FDA that this should be an approved indication," said Quock in a previous statement.