Tue, Mar 17, 2009 - Page 16 News List

Oxygen therapy is valuable, sometimes

Though it may not help patients live to 150 like Michael Jackson once hoped, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a valuable treatment for a range of diseases

By Jane E. Brody  /  NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , NEW YORK

Oxygen therapy is being tested in patients with new diagnoses of head or neck cancer to increase the tumor’s sensitivity to radiation treatments, Clarke said. Future studies will test benefits to patients with cancers of the larynx, skin and gynecological organs.

“The most important question to answer, in addition to cost-effectiveness,” he said, “is whether the therapeutic benefit lasts and clearly improves patients’ quality of life.”

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