I have access to your bulletin board and read several notes on the Canadian Study on CP. I would like to let your readers know that one of the researchers disagrees with the results that were presented by Dr. Collet. I received a news paper report from Montreal and had it translated into English. It should be published on your board to let your subscribers know that HBOT does help those with CP and the Montreal study was not completed fairly.
Here is the article.
LaPresse 12 Oct 2000
Dr. Marois accuses the Quebec Health Minister of sabotaging the results so they would not have to pay for Cerebral Palsy treatments. The most recent Quebec study on the effectiveness of Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment should have shown 'spectacular' results. In Dr. Marois' opinion, who is one of the researchers involved with the study last fall says, "The results from the researchers and the financing group for the study have not reached the same conclusion." The first group of kids received oxygen at 1.75 atmospheres of pressure while the second group received air at 1.3 ata of pressure. The study showed no difference between the two groups but both of them have shown progress. Up to now we have heard only Dr. Jean-Paul Collet's, Health and Research Resources and Quebec's Health and Social Services version of the study, saying that the treatments had no therapeutic effect on the condition of the children's mobility. In other words the positive effect found during the study was only a 'psychological effect'.
Other Version
'Thus, all other researchers involved with the study would have testified otherwise', says Dr. Marois. According to him the children involved with the study have shown a progress of 3% in two months in comparison to three months of conventional therapy with a progress of 0.3%. 'Its ten times the progress in less time. In some kids the results were almost miraculuous', replies Dr. Marois. 'Some kids started to talk, others were able to walk for the first time and some were able to sit', adds Dr. Marois. The difference in interpretation comes when considering the children given 1.3 atmospheres of air in the second group.
For Dr. Collet, this group of children received what he considers a 'Placebo' and had an inert effect. We could compare the two groups and conclude that the positive effect noticed in both groups wasn't therapeutic.
For Dr. Marois, the second group was not a placebo, but rather a lower dosage of hyperbaric oxygen. We cannot conclude to the inefficiency of the treatment but rather that even a lower dosage of hyperbaric oxygen showed great progress. Dr. Marois accuses Health and Research Resources and the Minister of Health of forging the research so they would not have to pay for treatments. 'All of the processes have been sabotaged by Health and Research Resources who abused their power to keep researchers away from their conclusion. It formed its own committee composed of people who were bias against the effect of the treatment and told them that it was a placebo effect based on no scientific evidences'.
The only way to find out, according to Dr. Marois, would be to start a new study with one pilot group with no treatment, a second group on a placebo, a third who would receive hyperbaric oxygen, a fourth on hyperbaric air and a fifth on oxygen only.
This is a direct translation from the French newspaper LaPresse. It lends some insight into why the report had been presented so negatively. Dr. Marois should be thanked by the community of parents and adults with Cerebral Palsy.
David Zuratsky