Evaluation of the hyperbaric oxygen therapy on the flash visual evoked potential P2 in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

BACKGROUND Studies have shown that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can improve the extraction rate and latency of cortical evoked potential N20 in patients with severe traumatic brain injury, but there are only a few studies on the effect of flash visual evoked potential. OBJECTIVE This study investigated the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on the P2 wave of flash visual evoked potentials in patients with severe traumatic brain injury. METHODS In total, we examined 40 TBI patients who received HBOT, in combination with medication, and 38 TBI patients who received medication alone. The FVEPs apparatus was used to detect the P2 wave extraction rate and the latency of the elicited waveform before and after treatment in both the medicated-only controls and HBOT-treated cohorts. RESULTS Compared with the control group, the HBOT treatment group showed a higher P2 wave elicitation rate, and the P2 wave latency of the HBOT treatment group was significantly shortened (p <  0.05, all). CONCLUSIONS HBOT, in combination with drug therapy, can significantly increase the P2 wave extraction rate and shorten P2 latency in patients with TBI.