Kim, Laura, Cammà, Guido, Peters, Claudia Kedor et al. · Journal of translational medicine · 2026 · DOI
This observational study of 30 ME/CFS patients reported improvements in physical functioning, fatigue, and pain after 40 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), with associated changes in brain connectivity patterns. However, this is a single-group study without a control arm receiving a sham or alternative treatment, so we cannot yet determine whether observed improvements were due to HBOT itself or other factors such as expectancy or natural variation.
This study provides preliminary neuroimaging-informed evidence that HBOT may be associated with measurable improvements in multiple ME/CFS symptom domains and functional brain connectivity patterns. If these findings are confirmed in randomized controlled trials, HBOT could potentially warrant inclusion in a broader therapeutic toolkit for ME/CFS; currently, the evidence base for any pharmacological or device-based intervention in ME/CFS remains sparse.
This observational study does not establish that HBOT causes clinical improvement, as there is no concurrent control group (sham HBOT, waitlist, or standard care) to rule out placebo, expectancy, or natural variation. The study does not confirm a mechanistic role for thalamic dysregulation in ME/CFS pathogenesis, only an association between connectivity changes and reported clinical response. These findings do not constitute a treatment recommendation and require replication in a randomized, blinded design before clinical implementation can be advised.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Kim, Laura, Cammà, Guido, Peters, Claudia Kedor, Mantwill, Maron, Müller, Oliver, Leprêtre, Nadège, et al. (2026). Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves clinical symptoms and functional capacity and modulates thalamic connectivity in ME/CFS: a prospective cohort study.. Journal of translational medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-026-08324-6
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kim-2026-hyperbaric-oxygen,
author = {Kim, Laura and Cammà, Guido and Peters, Claudia Kedor and Mantwill, Maron and Müller, Oliver and Leprêtre, Nadège and Heindrich, Cornelia and Rust, Rebekka and Krill, Moritz and Hartung, Tim J and Reeß, Lukas G and Krohn, Stephan and Heymann, Christian von and Wittke, Kirsten and Finke, Carsten and Scheibenbogen, Carmen},
title = {Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves clinical symptoms and functional capacity and modulates thalamic connectivity in ME/CFS: a prospective cohort study.},
journal = {Journal of translational medicine},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1186/s12967-026-08324-6},
note = {PubMed: 42249466},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kim-2026-hyperbaric-oxygen},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-06-07. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kim-2026-hyperbaric-oxygen
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