To investigate the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in patients following minimally invasive evacuation of intracranial hematoma.

A retrospective study was performed on 126 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery, The First People's Hospital of Chun'an County between August 2022 and August 2024, including 82 males and 44 females, aged 40~70 years [(58.17±10.69) years]. The participants were assigned to an observation group and a control group according to whether hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy was administered, with 63 patients in each group. Patients in the control group received minimally invasive hematoma evacuation for intracerebral hemorrhage. The observation group received HBO therapy within 24 hours after surgery. The primary endpoint was the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score at postoperative day 14. Secondary endpoints included the temporal changes in postoperative NIHSS scores, cerebral edema volume, oxidative stress levels [malondialdehyde (MDA)、glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD)], and adverse events. Pearson correlation analysis was adopted to explore the correlation between oxidative stress indicators and NIHSS scores at the same time point.

Two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed statistically significant main effects of group, main effects of time, and group-by-time interaction effects for NIHSS score, cerebral edema volume, and oxidative stress indicators including MDA, GSH-Px and SOD (all P<0.05). Simple effect analyses indicated that the NIHSS score, cerebral edema volume and MDA level gradually decreased over time, while GSH-Px and SOD levels gradually increased in both groups. No significant intergroup differences in the above indicators were observed before operation (P>0.0125). At postoperative day 3, 7 and 14, the observation group exhibited lower NIHSS scores, smaller cerebral edema volume and lower MDA levels, as well as higher GSH-Px and SOD levels compared with the control group (all P<0.0125). Correlation analysis showed that the NIHSS score at each time point was positively correlated with the concurrent MDA level, and negatively correlated with concurrent GSH-Px and SOD levels (all P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between the two groups (P>0.05).

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy after minimally invasive hematoma evacuation for intracerebral hemorrhage reduces cerebral edema, decreases oxidative stress levels, and improves neurological function.