New Insights on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Cancer

Hypoxia is a critical characteristic of malignant tumors and involves enhanced cell survival, angiogenesis, glycolytic metabolism, and metastasis. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) has been used to improve and cure disorders involving hypoxia and ischemia, HBOT enhances the amount of dissolved oxygen in the plasma and thereby increasing O2 delivery to the tissue. Studies on HBOT and cancer have mostly focused on whether enhanced oxygen may act as a promoter of cancer. As oxygen is believed to be required for all the major processes of wound healing, including angiogenesis, this particular idea would give the impression that HBOT will promote cancer growth and recurrence. Nevertheless, this is not the case since the use of HBOT in patients with malignancies should be considered safe and therapeutic. There is no evidence indicating that HBO neither acts as a stimulator of tumor growth nor as an enhancer of recurrence. On the other hand, there is evidence that implies that HBO has tumor-inhibitory effects, this manuscript pretends to expand our knowledge on the effect and the mechanisms behind tumor oxygenation by HBOT.