title: Intermittent hyperbaric oxygen therapy for reduction of mortality in experimental polymicrobial sepsis.
abstract: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has a marked beneficial effect in experimental intraabdominal sepsis. Two rat models involving implantation of either rat fecal material or a mixture of pure cultures of Escherichia coli, Streptococcus faecalis, and Bacteroides fragilis were used in this study. A death rate of 100% was obtained in control animals implanted with fecal material; with intermittent hyperbaric oxygen treatment, a death rate of only 8% was observed (P less than .005). With a mixture of pure cultures of clinical pathogens, the death rate in control animals was 79%, and intermittent hyperbaric oxygen treatment reduced the rate to 23% (P less than .005). Data from cultures of blood indicated that the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen was not related to antibacterial activity.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D001442:Bacteroides Infections / Q000628:therapy; D001441:Bacteroides fragilis; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000628:therapy; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D006931:Hyperbaric Oxygenation; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000628:therapy