Hyperbaric Oxygen for Brain Injury
Official title: Hyperbaric Oxygen Brain Injury Treatment (HOBIT) Trial
Funded at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute · NIH-11144113 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This research explores if giving extra oxygen in a special chamber can help people recover better after a severe brain injury.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Minneapolis, United States) |
| Project start | September 30, 2017 |
| Project end | June 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $1,740,714 |
| NIH project number | 2U01NS095926-06 |
| Project ID | NIH-11144113 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates would be individuals who have recently experienced a severe traumatic brain injury.
✕Less likely to help
Patients with mild brain injuries or those whose injuries occurred a long time ago may not benefit from this acute treatment.
What this research studies
Severe brain injuries often lead to serious problems and even death, and current treatments haven't shown great success in large studies. This project looks at a treatment called hyperbaric oxygen, where you breathe pure oxygen in a pressurized room. The idea is that this extra oxygen can help heal the brain by improving blood flow, reducing swelling, and promoting new cell growth. This specific effort aims to figure out the best way to give this treatment to prepare for a larger study, by identifying optimal pressure and whether additional oxygen after treatment helps.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could lead to a new and effective treatment to improve recovery and reduce long-term problems for people with severe traumatic brain injury.
How similar studies have gone: Preclinical and early phase II clinical investigations have shown promising results, suggesting that hyperbaric oxygen may improve brain metabolism and neurological outcomes.
Where this research is happening
-
Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute
Minneapolis, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Rockswold, Gaylan L — Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute
- Study coordinator: Rockswold, Gaylan L
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Waixenicin A-based therapy for newborn brain injury
A new drug-target approach aims to protect babies’ brains after oxygen deprivation at birth.
-
AI-enhanced virtual reality tool to support remote emergency brain surgery training in Tanzania
A new AI-powered virtual reality tool helps non-experts in low-resource areas get real-time remote guidance for emergency traumatic brain injury surgery.
-
Modulating a brain lipid to reduce injury after newborn brain injury
Aims to test a treatment that changes a brain lipid to lessen damage after a baby’s brain has been deprived of oxygen.
-
How head injury affects the heart and blood vessels
This project aims to find out whether traumatic brain injuries make people more likely to develop hardened arteries and heart problems, especially among veterans.
-
Brain injury risk in preterm babies with heart disease and how surgery choices affect their brains
This project follows newborns with congenital heart disease born early to understand how their brains are affected and how different surgical approaches might influence outcomes.
-
Neural targets for improving function in Veterans with alcohol use disorder and mild brain injury
This project tests a targeted brain-stimulation approach to help Veterans who have both alcohol use problems and mild traumatic brain injury improve daily functioning.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.