NIH AWARDS GRANT TO STUDY HYPERBARIC TREATMENT OF RADIATION INJURY.
Dr. Neil Hampson, Virginia Mason Medical Center and past UHMS President, and Dr. Michael Martin, University of Washington School of Dentistry, were recently awarded an R21 grant by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to study the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen
therapy for radiation-induced xerostomia (dry mouth resulting from radiation injury to the salivary glands). The two-year, $500,000 NIH grant proposes to examine changes in salivary flow among 40 patients receiving hyperbaric treatment and with a history of head and neck cancer, radiation therapy and chronic xerostomia. Basal and stimulated salivary flow will be measured prior to hyperbaric
therapy, after every 10 hyperbaric treatments, and then every 3 months for 18 months. Standarized xerostomia questionnaires will also be serially administered. For comparison, the patients will be matched to 40 similar patients not receiving hyperbaric treatment.
"Xerostomia is the number one complication affecting quality of life in patients following head and neck radiation", notes Dr. Hampson. "If we are able to demonstrate that hyperbaric oxygen treatment is effective therapy, we have the potential to significantly help many thousands of individuals."