| At the 2007 GEMI Fund seminar in Munich the scientists who had received their grants in 2005 returned to address an assembly of scientists, doctors, representatives of Linde and the new GEMI Fund grantees.
Stroke, whether caused by infarction, embolism or haemorrhage is the second most common cause of death worldwide claiming millions of lives each year. Little wonder that researchers looked into possible therapeutic uses for gases in the treatment of stroke victims.
Among these was Dr Ben B. Williams of the Department of Radiology at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire, USA. His grant was for studying electron paramagnetic resonance measurement of brain tissue pO2 and oxidative stress during hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) following strokes. HBOT is the use of inhaled oxygen at two to three times the atmospheric pressure to increase the partial pressure of O2. Dr Williams describes a two year period punctuated by the technical challenges posed of an elaborate experimental set-up and complexities but also by the excitement at the results. ‘We have developed a new and unique capability for non-invasive measurement of tissue oxygen during hyperbaric oxygen treatment’, says Dr Williams.
The first real breakthrough occurred just after the interim review that each grantee presents to the GEMI Fund scientific panel detailing their findings to date. ‘We started from scratch and had to design a totally new hyperbaric chamber. It was truly exciting to see our results bear out our hypothesis.’ Dr Williams sees tangible benefits from this research, particularly from the capability of providing direct measurements of pO2 that can then be used to determine whether therapy is being applied optimally. |
