VA approves use of hyperbaric chamber to treat TBI patients.

The Washington Times (9/10) “Sgt. Shaft” column reports that, according to a reader, “some members of Congress,” including Reps. Walter B. Jones (R-NC), Pete Sessions (R-TX), and Chet Edwards (D-TX), “have found and are championing a treatment that works” for traumatic brain injuries (TBI): “hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).” The reader asks Sgt. Shaft to “help change the military and VA healthcare systems so that HBOT is the standard treatment for TBI.” Sgt. Shaft replies that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki “recently approved the purchase of a hyperbaric chamber for use in treating” patients with TBI at the VA’s “Tampa Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center in Florida. ‘The VA will use this as a test in treating TBI patients to determine if there is any value in the use of the chamber as a method of patient care,'” Shinseki is quoted as saying.

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