Multicenter Registry Update – 2024 year-end summary
The Registry is a database designed to gather consistent measures about the use, outcomes, and safety of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) treatments from hyperbaric centers worldwide. The goal is to publish this information for quality improvement, patient care, and research and to document the outcomes from hyperbaric oxygen treatment. The Registry collects data for the 15 UHMS-approved indications for hyperbaric treatments and selected other emerging indications. The data from the participating centers are aggregated to provide information that no single center could collect independently.
Members of the registry meet quarterly via Zoom to discuss treatment experience in individual centers and challenges that may be encountered using the registry system. This allows for regular improvements and adaptations of the data collection protocols.
The standardization of data entry allows for the comparison of outcomes across centers for patients with similar clinical presentations.
The number of participating treatment centers entering data has grown from 25 in 2020 to 30.
The figures below illustrate the range and distribution of patient entries in the registry over the past several years and the specialties referring patients for HBO2. The largest patient population has consistently come from delayed radiation injury. However, there has been a notable increase in referrals for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (218 cases in 2024, compared to 172 cases in 2023), a relatively recent addition to the UHMS-approved indication list. This may explain the rise in referrals from Otolaryngology. Additionally, a moderate number of patients enter annually for non-UHMS approved indications. While any one center may be treating those cases in very small numbers, the pooled data can then be examined collectively for a more meaningful assessment of the value of those treatments.
Figure 1. Patient entries by center 2024
Figure 2. Referral reasons 2024
Figure 3. Referral reasons 2023
Figure 4. Referring physician 2024
Figure 5. Referring physician 2023
Figure 6. Non UHMS Approved Indications 2024
Figure 7. Non UHMS Approved indications 2023