Breakthrough in Fibromyalgia Treatment

A study conducted at Tel Aviv University and several medical centers in Israel, in collaboration with colleagues from Rice University in the USA, indicates that staying in an oxygen-rich hyperbaric chamber significantly improves the condition of fibromyalgia patients. The research was published in June 2015 in the journal  PLOS One.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome affecting approximately 2%-4% of the population in the Western world, with 90% of sufferers being women. The disease primarily manifests following one of three situations: head trauma, infection involving the nervous system, or severe and prolonged mental stress. The origin of the disease is still unknown, and thus treatment is only symptomatic, and its efficacy is limited.

(Photo courtesy of Assaf Harofeh Medical Center)

The novelty of the current research is the discovery of the primary cause of the disease—a disruption in the brain mechanism responsible for processing pain. The study was conducted on a representative sample of 60 women aged 21-67, who had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia for more than two years. At the start of the study, participants underwent high-resolution brain mapping, showing brain activity through analytical tools. Then, the women were divided into two groups, with half receiving the treatment and the other half serving as a control group.

The research group attended the hyperbaric chamber at Assaf Harofeh Hospital five times a week for two months, being exposed to 100% oxygen at a pressure of two atmospheres for an hour and a half during each visit.

The result is very encouraging: the condition of approximately 70% of the women treated in the hyperbaric chamber improved to such an extent that they could no longer be defined as fibromyalgia patients. At the end of the treatment series, participants underwent another brain mapping, and changes were found in their brain structure, corresponding to the clinical improvement.

Researchers found changes in the brains of the treated individuals corresponding to clinical improvement, and they precisely identified the brain areas responsible for fibromyalgia. Essentially, the source of the syndrome was identified as a damage to the brain's pain processing mechanism. Hyperbaric chamber treatment addresses the root of the problem and repairs the damaged brain tissue, making it very effective. Dr. Efrati, one of the study's editors, notes that in the future, it may be possible to diagnose fibromyalgia based on brain mapping characteristics.