Doctor: Hyperbaric therapy shows promise as cancer treatment complement

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Dr. Alan Meglin, a specialist and owner of the Advanced Regenerative Medicine Clinic in Savannah, said research shows hyperbaric therapy can help cancer patients, though the treatment is not widely known or used in the oncology community.

How cancer cells use energy

Meglin said cancer cells start out as normal cells that undergo a change through mutation or another process. That change alters how the cells make and use energy, shifting them to what is called anaerobic metabolism, also known as the Warburg shift.

“Cancer cells change how they make energy,” Meglin said. “And they use a very inefficient energy generation system.”

Meglin said cancer cells use a non-oxygen using metabolism. He said there is a bias against hyperbaric therapy in the oncology community, but he said that bias is misinformed.

Effect of oxygen on cancer cells

Meglin said placing a patient in a hyperbaric chamber drives oxygen-using metabolism, creating an environment that is unfavorable for cancer cells while remaining favorable for the immune system and healthy cells.

“Cancer thrives in a hypoxic environment,” Meglin said. “Cancer thrives in a low-oxygen environment. And this creates a high-oxygen environment, so it doesn’t thrive.”

Meglin said cancer also uses glucose as an energy source, and said cancer thrives with high glucose and low oxygen. He said combining hyperbaric therapy, which drives high oxygen, with a low-glucose, low-sugar or low-carbohydrate diet, along with conventional therapies, produces better results.

Not a standalone treatment

Meglin said hyperbaric therapy cannot treat cancer on its own, but he said it can improve the effectiveness of cancer surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiation therapy. He said the therapy can decrease side effects and may allow for lower chemotherapy doses.

Meglin said insurance does not cover hyperbaric therapy for cancer patients, making it an off-label indication that is not offered through insurance. He said the clinic rents chambers to patients so they can do the therapy at home.

Additional treatments offered

Meglin said cancer thrives in a high-glucose, hypoxic and inflammatory environment. He said hyperbaric therapy decreases inflammation, and the clinic also offers red light therapy, which he described as anti-inflammatory.

The clinic also offers treatments using binaural beats and BrainTap, which Meglin described as a forced meditation intended to reduce stress and improve resilience and coping ability. He said the clinic additionally offers peptides and pulsed electromagnetic field treatments.

Meglin said none of the treatments offered at the clinic replace standard cancer treatments and are adjuncts meant to enhance conventional therapies.

As an example, Meglin said hyperbaric therapy combined with conventional therapies doubles the lifespan of patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain cancer, compared to conventional treatment alone. Conventional treatment for glioblastoma multiforme includes radiotherapy, and sometimes surgery or chemotherapy.