Current data indicates increasing incidence of autism in children, now reported as 1 in 45. The autism pattern causes significantly abnormal neurological function.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for treatment of autism and has produced very good results, with improvement in 80 to 90 percent of those that undergo the treatment.

A good example is the son of one of my secretaries who had autism and was nonverbal. When asked a question or needing to talk to someone, he would nod and grunt, but could not pronounce words.

As he was preparing to go into school, she decided that maybe she would try the HBOT treatments that I had been writing about. We gave her son 20 HBOT treatments and he went from non-verbal to verbal; he now answers the telephone.

Therefore, HBOT is something that should be considered for all children with autism.

Remember that HBOT has also worked well for children with cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury, and I have had a patient with ataxia telangiectasia that has also improved.

Another reason to consider HBOT in the patient with ataxia telangiectasia is that a significant number of these patients in their late teens and early twenties will develop a malignancy.

The anticancer activity of HBOT may help prevent development of malignancy in the patients with ataxia telangiectasia.