Pneumonia complicating stroke is very difficult to manage and has a very poor prognosis, leading to a significantly higher risk of death. Oral opportunistic pathogens have been reported to be associated with the incidence of pneumonia among non-stroke immunocompromised subjects. Preliminary studies found that patients with stroke had higher carriage rates of oral opportunistic pathogens than healthy subjects. Therefore, investigators hypothesize that pneumonia complicating stroke is associated with oral opportunistic pathogens, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy may reduce the incidence of pneumonia complicating stroke by increasing the flow of saliva, which can affect the species and relative abundance of oral opportunistic pathogens. In order to prove this, investigators need to (1) firstly conduct a randomized controlled trial to confirm whether hyperbaric oxygen therapy is able to reduce the levels of plaque, and the incidence of pneumonia complicating stroke at clinical level; (2) secondly employ metagenomics analysis to compare oral rinse samples and respiratory samples, and to identify pneumonia-associated oral opportunistic pathogens group; (3) finally elucidate how hyperbaric oxygen therapy influences the species and relative abundance of oral opportunistic pathogens. This proposed study will provide evidence for the integration of hyperbaric oxygen therapy as part of interdisciplinary stroke rehabilitation.
To investigate the evidence for the integration of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as part of interdisciplinary stroke rehabilitation.