Normobaric oxygen may correct chronic cerebral ischemia‐mediated EEG anomalies

AIMS: To explore the safety and efficacy of normobaric oxygen (NBO) on correcting chronic cerebral ischemia (CCI) and related EEG anomalies. METHODS: This prospective randomized trial (NCT03745092) enrolled 50 cases of CCI patients, which were divided into NBO (8 L/min of oxygen supplement) group and control group (room air) randomly, and also enrolled 21 healthy volunteers. Two times of 30‐min EEG recordings with the interval of 45min of NBO or room air were analyzed quantitatively. RESULTS: The CCI‐mediated EEG presented with two patterns of electrical activities: high‐power oscillations (high‐power EEG, n = 26) and paroxysmal slow activities under the normal‐power background (normal‐power EEG, n = 24). The fronto‐central absolute power (AP) of the beta, alpha, theta, and delta in the high‐power EEG was higher than that in healthy EEG (p < 0.05). The fronto‐central theta/alpha, delta/alpha and (delta + theta)/(alpha + beta) ratios in the normal‐power EEG were higher than those in healthy EEG (p < 0.05). The high‐power EEG in NBO group had higher fronto‐central AP reduction rates than those in control group (p < 0.05). NBO remarkably reduced the fronto‐central theta/alpha, delta/alpha, and (delta + theta)/(alpha + beta) ratios in the normal‐power EEG (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: NBO rapidly ameliorates CCI‐mediated EEG anomalies, including attenuation of the abnormal high‐power oscillations and the paroxysmal slow activities associated with CCI.