After experiencing a stroke, survivors are often told not to expect many improvements to their condition after the first six months of rehabilitation. They are often left with motor function challenges as well as cognitive impairments and uncertainty about the future.
Aviv Clinics, an innovative brain and body treatment center, brings new hope to stroke survivors through its unique medical program that could reverse impairments associated with a stroke. This program combines cognitive and physical training and nutritional coaching with a unique Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) protocol to help stroke survivors restore cognitive and physical vitality and regain some of their capabilities even several years after their stroke. This innovative approach has continued to improve the lives of survivors and show us that we are amid a scientific revolution.
Dr. Shai Efrati, Aviv Clinics’ Co-founder and Chair of its Medical Advisory Board, plays a major role in Aviv’s success. His breakthrough research on novel applications of HBOT was led by his own curiosity about neurological improvements he observed when patients for unrelated conditions were exposed to an increase in atmospheric pressure and oxygen. “If I had assumed that brain tissue could not be repaired, as I was taught in medical school, we wouldn’t be here today,” he says.
Aviv Clinics in Brief
Aviv Clinics was conceived to help people heal their brains through innovation and a unique approach to an old technology, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Through more than 15 years of clinical trials and research, a team of leading neurosurgeons, physicians and medical researchers developed a unique protocol that demonstrates positive outcomes in treating people with debilitating brain diseases including chronic post-stroke conditions, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, long COVID, and cognitive and physical decline caused by aging.
Aviv’s unique, intensive protocol can treat the symptoms of a variety of brain health conditions and ailments. Aviv’s approach to treatment includes a fully customized plan for each patient, including the calculated use of HBOT. The specific HBOT protocol in use helps the brain regenerate damaged tissue by fluctuating increased oxygen levels in a pressurized environment, triggering the body’s natural regenerative abilities.
Aligning with the Core Value
The company is amid a scientific revolution. Dr. Efrati says, “At the core is the ability to say, ‘I don’t know, I need to learn, and I need to test.’ A long time ago, humans needed physical resilience to survive. Today, it is brain resilience, and that is the core of our value system and organizational mission.”
Addressing Stroke
When a person has a stroke, it causes a wound in the brain to develop. Just like any other wound, there are several degrees of injury to the damaged tissue. One type of injury can recover fully, whereas another type of injury is necrotic and cannot be helped. “But there is a middle ground surrounding that necrotic tissue, known as the penumbra, that has been shown to improve with the Aviv Medical Program,” says Dr. Efrati.
“When tissue has gone through metabolic dysfunction, like a stroke, it is not functioning normally. This is the exact tissue that we look for and that can be improved with our protocol,” he adds. Advanced brain imaging allows Aviv’s clinical team to characterize, identify and target this non-necrotic damaged tissue in the brain. A distinctive aspect of Aviv is setting the proper expectations with a patient, and confidently informing them of what level of recovery is possible and what is not.
HBOT, a Clinically Proven Approach to Stroke Recovery
“In medicine, we all have a calling to help others and that drives our dedication and determination. With that said, some simply want to capitalize on medical innovations without fully understanding their capabilities. This unfortunate approach has led to HBOT being viewed as hokey, invalid and science fiction,” says Dr. Efrati.
He continues, “For example, there are many claims of hyperbaric oxygen therapy chambers, typically mono-place chambers, being used at wellness centers, holistic medicine sites and other centers that promise healing effects after just a few uses. This is harmful because many of these “healing offers” and their associated claims fall drastically short of helping because they do not follow a physiological understanding, or do not use the proper equipment or research-backed utilization.”
At Aviv, patients go into a multi-place chamber where they comfortably sit to breathe 100% medical-grade oxygen from a mask. During each HBOT session, oxygen levels fluctuate between normoxia and hyperoxia. This repeated fluctuation has been shown in clinical trials to increase vascularization in damaged tissue.
Prior to the treatment, a team of doctors conducts a range of tests including advanced MRI and physical, cognitive and blood tests to paint a full picture of the patient’s health. This determines the course of treatment for the following three-month program. During the treatment, each patient is monitored by doctors and nurses, including during their time in the HBOT chamber.
The standard protocol to achieve results is two hours a day, five days a week, and clients also complete a customized program of nutrition coaching and cognitive and physical training during the 12-week program. The same tests are conducted at the end of treatment to evaluate the patient’s progress, and approximately six months after completing the program, the patient returns for a check-up and additional testing to measure ongoing improvement.
The Comprehensive Aviv Medical Program
The comprehensive Aviv Medical Program has been clinically proven to enhance cognitive and physical performance in patients. The HBOT protocol used at Aviv is the same protocol that Dr. Efrati’s team has employed in their peer-reviewed research. The full Aviv Medical Program is not available anywhere else in the world.
“The suites at Aviv are pressurized to above atmospheric levels, increasing oxygen levels to the body to 10-15 times the normal levels. By essentially deceiving the body into believing it is in a hypoxic state, we can supersaturate damaged tissue with oxygen, trigger stem cell proliferation and angiogenesis, or the creation of new blood vessels, and induce neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt or react in response to injury or disease,” says Dr. Efrati.
Aviv’s Approach Expands to Healthy Aging
In addition to stroke recovery, Aviv Clinics helps adults who are invested in proactively addressing their healthy aging journey by enhancing physical and cognitive health. This includes people like CEOs and other professionals who want to maintain their peak brain performance and those who want to avoid age-related diseases and decline.
The Aviv Medical Program is exceptional for this group, as well as those suffering from age-related diseases, because the treatment is fully customizable. While there might not necessarily be an immediate problem to address in healthy aging patients, the program still assesses the patient’s full picture of health including fitness and nutrition to target the exact areas for improvement.
Dr. Efrati says, “The one problem we all face daily is aging. The aging process negatively affects our body’s ability to transfer oxygen to the brain, increasing tissue damage and shrinkage, as well as an increased risk of developing age-related diseases. HBOT can also improve the normal aging process because of its regenerative effect on damaged tissue that naturally occurs as we grow older.”
Words of Wisdom
To the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts who desire to venture into stroke care, Dr. Efrati suggests, “The most important thing is to look at the patient. Some people say that if there is an extreme case, ignore it. I say the opposite. I think there is value in learning from the extremes. If you have the privilege to see something unusual and unexpected, dig into it and try to understand what’s going on.”
Scaling 2024 and Beyond
“Aviv is the lighthouse. We’ve worked hard to develop a high-quality and fully operational center in the United States. Not only did we accomplish that, but we now have the most advanced state-of-the-art hyperbaric facility in the entire country in central Florida. Our goal is for this center to be the educational hub for all future centers that we open across the country. We have the same goal for other continents across the world. The commitment to health crosses all borders, races, religions, and languages and hopefully, we can bring good to as many people as possible,” emphasizes Dr. Efrati.
Here’s What Clients are Saying
“Everything seems very difficult when your mind is not in order. It was like my mind was playing ping pong. I thought, ‘How will I ever cope in life like that?’ It was very, very scary. There were things I was told I would never recover from. Now, I can type with both hands and my left hand is recovering. My physiotherapist couldn’t believe how fast I was improving. One day, I was standing, and I could walk. Nowadays, I am walking about four kilometers every day.”
“How can you put a price on relying on your mind? It changed my life. I am very, very grateful for that.”
My Journey So Far
“My history with hyperbaric therapy started with research to disprove what I was taught in medical school: neurons cannot be regenerated. In the end, the research showed us the opposite results. That insight opened a new area of research and a new perspective on how we look at the brain, how we refer to the brain, and how we should treat the brain.
As a Nephrologist and a Professor of Neurology, I was curious about the body’s reaction to an increase in blood pressure. I wanted to establish a model of malignant hypertension to learn the physiological cascade of cells that led to organized cell death. There was already a small HBOT chamber in the hospital that was primarily used to help people recover from diving accidents, and skin lacerations and contusions, but I needed something bigger. The hyperbaric technician helped me build the chamber I needed, and I achieved what I set out to do – learn about malignant hypertension, which is now the standard method of understanding this ailment.
One of my first patients was diabetic and recently suffered a stroke. She arrived in a wheelchair to be treated for a wound. Utilizing the hyperbaric therapy approach, the wound recovered, but I also noticed that by the end of the treatment, she no longer needed the wheelchair. I was fascinated by this. Then, I saw the same scenario in a second and third case, and I realized there was something there and I needed to research it further.”
– Dr. Shai Efrati
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