Groundbreaking therapy ‘reverses brain damage’ in toddler who drowned in swimming pool

American doctors have successfully reversed the devastating brain damage suffered by a toddler who drowned in the family swimming pool for 15 minutes.

Eden Carlson’s heart didn’t beat for two hours after the accident – and she suffered deep grey matter injury and cerebral atrophy.

The toddler fell into the family swimming pool after getting through a baby gate while her mother showered.

But a combination of new oxygen therapies has meant that researchers have ‘reversed’ the brain damage, Science Alert reported.

Carlson could no longer speak, walk or respond to voices – but would squirm around uncomfortably.

Researchers used hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to partially reverse the brain damage.

MORE: Scotland Yard begins recruiting detectives with no policing experience

MORE: Crime across England and Wales has risen to highest level in a decade

In HBOT, patients are administered oxygen at higher than atmospheric pressure in a sealed chamber – to increase the amount of oxygen in a patient’s blood.

In some cases, the treatment can help the body repair damaged tissue.

The treatments saw Eden recover alertness, and recover the ability to eat and speak.

‘The startling regrowth of tissue in this case occurred because we were able to intervene early in a growing child, before long-term tissue degeneration,’ says hyperbaric specialist Paul Harch from the LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine.