Diabetes : Deep-sea diving tank combined with stem cells to treat condition

By Roger Dobson

PUBLISHED: 22:48 EST, 11 March 2013 | UPDATED: 23:38 EST, 11 March 2013

Sitting in a diving chamber may be a new treatment for type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the condition.

Scientists are combining the treatment with injections of a patients own stem cells in a bid to kick-start insulin production.

They believe the high levels of oxygen in the chamber boosts the activity of the stem cells, helping them to repair the cells in the body that produce insulin.

There are around 2.9 million Britons with diabetes, with most of them suffering from type 2

In a new trial, patients with type 2 diabetes reduced their need for insulin and metformin (a common diabetes drug) with some no longer needing the insulin at all.

So-called hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves a patient sitting in a pressurised chamber.

The high-pressure atmosphere means they breathe in three times as much oxygen as they would normally.

The treatment is normally used for helping divers who have surfaced too quickly and have the bends (where bubbles of nitrogen form in the blood).

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Diabetes : Deep-sea diving tank combined with stem cells to treat condition