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EUBS 2026 Geneva: What Europe's HBOT Congress Means for Patients

EUBS 2026 met 14–18 September in Geneva and re-voted Europe's accepted HBOT indications. What was reviewed, when the final list is due, and what it means for patients.

Updated September 22, 2026
9 min read
by Hyperbaric.app

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a healthcare professional. Read full disclaimer

EUBS 2026 at a Glance

The 50th scientific congress of the European Underwater and Baromedical Society (EUBS) took place from 14 to 18 September 2026 at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG) in Switzerland. It was organised by the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and the Swiss Society of Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine (SUHMS). EUBS reports 366 registered participants from more than 50 countries. The next meeting is in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 8 to 11 September 2027.

For patients, the most important part of the week happened on the first day. On Monday the European Committee for Hyperbaric Medicine (ECHM) held its 11th Consensus Conference on Indications for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, where experts reviewed the list of conditions that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is recommended for and voted on it. The jury's conclusions were presented on Friday, 18 September.

The new list is not final yet. EUBS says the full Recommendations Report will be finalised after further Delphi rounds and published by the end of 2026. Until then, the 2016 list below remains the published European reference.

What Is EUBS?

EUBS is the European scientific society for diving and hyperbaric medicine. It was founded in London on 30 September 1971 as the European Underwater and Biomedical Society, and changed "Biomedical" to "Baromedical" in 1991 to better include hyperbaric medicine. Together with the South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society, it publishes the journal Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine, which is indexed in MEDLINE.

Its annual meeting is where European hyperbaric physicians, nurses, chamber operators and researchers present new studies, compare safety practices and agree on standards.

Why Geneva?

Switzerland has a long history in diving medicine, largely through the decompression research of Prof. Albert Bühlmann in Zürich. Geneva was chosen because HUG runs the only hyperbaric facility in a Swiss hospital (listing). Hyperbaric services for the region were concentrated at HUG from 1 January 2009. The centre uses a multiplace chamber and provides 24/7 emergency cover, alongside planned treatment for problems such as diabetic wounds and radiation injuries.

EUBS has met in Switzerland twice before: in Basel in 1992 and in Geneva in 2016.

The Main Event for Patients: The ECHM Indications Review

What the ECHM list is

The ECHM publishes Europe's reference list of accepted indications for HBOT. The current list comes from the Tenth European Consensus Conference on Hyperbaric Medicine, held in April 2016 and published in 2017. That conference sorted each condition into three recommendation types:

  • Type 1: HBOT is strongly recommended, backed by strong enough evidence.
  • Type 2: HBOT is suggested, backed by acceptable evidence.
  • Type 3: HBOT can be considered as an optional measure, but the evidence is not yet strong enough.

The 2016 conference also recommended that European hyperbaric centres use this list as the basis for accreditation and national reimbursement policies. That is why the list matters beyond medical journals: it affects whether a treatment is considered standard care and, in many countries, whether it is funded.

What the 2016 list said

Type 1 (strongly recommended): carbon monoxide poisoning, open fractures with crush injury, prevention of jaw osteoradionecrosis after dental extraction, osteoradionecrosis of the mandible, soft-tissue radionecrosis (radiation cystitis and proctitis), decompression illness, gas embolism, anaerobic or mixed bacterial infections, and sudden deafness.

Type 2 (suggested): diabetic foot lesions, femoral head necrosis, compromised skin grafts and flaps, central retinal artery occlusion, crush injury without fracture, osteoradionecrosis of bones other than the mandible, other radiation injuries of soft tissue, surgery and implants in irradiated tissue, ischaemic ulcers, refractory chronic osteomyelitis, second-degree burns covering more than 20% of body surface, pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis, and stage IV neuroblastoma.

Type 3 (optional): brain injury in highly selected patients, radiation injuries of the larynx and central nervous system, post-vascular reperfusion syndrome, limb replantation, selected non-healing wounds caused by systemic disease, sickle cell disease, and interstitial cystitis.

The 2016 conference also made negative recommendations. It advised against HBOT for autism spectrum disorders, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, tinnitus, placental insufficiency and the acute phase of stroke.

What was reviewed

The Monday programme followed the same structure, with a general discussion and vote after each block:

  • Accepted indications, highest recommendation level: dysbaric illness, non-dysbaric gas embolism, tissue infections, carbon monoxide poisoning, crush syndrome, sudden deafness and radiation-related injury.
  • Accepted indications, lower recommendation levels: diabetic foot lesions, delayed wound healing, compromised skin grafts and flaps, femoral head necrosis, refractory chronic osteomyelitis, burns, and central retinal artery occlusion.
  • Emerging indications: inflammatory bowel disease, COVID-19 (acute and long COVID), neurological conditions, and a session on other non-accepted and emerging uses.
  • Practice of HBOT: organisation and safety, contraindications, staff training, choice of treatment schedule, dosing, research and cost.

The jury's conclusions were presented at the close of the congress, but they are not the final recommendations. Further Delphi rounds, a structured way of reaching agreement among a panel of experts, will settle the wording and grades, and the full report is due by the end of 2026. We will update this article, and our guide to accepted HBOT indications, when the report is published.

Research Worth Watching on the Programme

Beyond the consensus day, the congress programme listed oral presentations that touch directly on questions patients ask. The titles below are taken from the official programme. They are presentations, not yet peer-reviewed publications, so treat them as signals of where research is heading rather than settled evidence.

Long COVID and new indications

  • "Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for post-COVID-19: one-year outcomes of a prospective cohort study"
  • "Evaluation of biomarkers related to chronic Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress in post COVID-19 condition"
  • A lecture titled "Non ECHM approved indication: scientific appraisal and ethical considerations"

Hearing, eyes and side effects

  • "Ten hyperbaric oxygen sessions in five versus ten days for acute acoustic trauma: randomised trial"
  • "Frequency and magnitude of Myopic shift in Hyperbaric oxygen treatment: A systematic review". Temporary short-sightedness is one of the better-known side effects of a treatment course.
  • "Hypertension management in HBOT: pathway development and threshold derivation"

Radiation injury

  • Preliminary results of the "OXYBAR" study on repeated HBOT and DNA damage after radiotherapy
  • "Soft Tissue Radiation Injury; Patient Reported Evaluation in a Single Centre Cohort Study (STRIPE)"
  • "Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Treating Late Effects of Pelvic Radiation Injury in Female Patients"

Orthopaedics and recovery

  • "Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Femoral Head Osteonecrosis: Clinical and Radiological Outcomes from a Hospital-Based Cohort"
  • A matched cohort study with MRI assessment on short-course HBOT and early ACL graft maturation

Personalised treatment

  • A lecture titled "Precision Hyperbarics: The Future of Individualized HBOT"
  • "NHBOT: A Retrieval-Augmented AI Knowledge Assistant for Hyperbaric Medicine"

Safety Gets Its Own Session

On Thursday, the European Baromedical Association for nurses, operators and technicians (EBAss) ran a dedicated hyperbaric safety session. Topics included:

  • the safety of chamber attendants
  • wound vacuum (VAC) devices inside the chamber, with a call for consensus guidelines
  • simulation training
  • human factors and safety culture
  • a first-hand account of a hyperbaric chamber fire

This is a useful reminder that safety depends on trained staff, clear procedures and well-maintained equipment, not only on the chamber itself. If you are wondering what can and cannot go into a chamber, see our guide on phones and lithium batteries in hyperbaric chambers.

Diving Medicine Highlights

EUBS is equally a diving medicine congress. This year's programme included:

  • a DAN Europe session on forensic investigation of diving fatalities
  • a DAN Divers Day with talks on search-and-recovery missions and diving emergencies in Switzerland
  • research on immersion pulmonary oedema and lung ultrasound after dives
  • decompression modelling
  • a survey on in-water recompression
  • a study on diving with pacemakers and implantable defibrillators

What This Means When You Choose an HBOT Clinic

You do not need to follow a medical congress to benefit from it. Keep three practical points in mind:

  1. Ask what your condition's evidence level is. If a clinic offers HBOT for a condition, ask whether it appears on the ECHM or UHMS accepted lists. If it does not, ask on what basis they recommend it. A good clinic will answer plainly. Our guide on how to choose an HBOT clinic lists more questions to ask.
  2. Medical and wellness HBOT are different things. The ECHM indications refer to medical treatment in hard-shell chambers, usually at 2.0 ATA or higher. Soft-shell "mild" chambers run at lower pressures and are used mainly for wellness. Compare the two in our hard-shell vs soft-shell chamber guide.
  3. Watch for the final report. If your condition was under review (long COVID, neurological conditions, wounds, radiation injury or sudden deafness), the report due by the end of 2026 may change how European clinics and insurers view it. Until it is published, ask which recommendation level applies under the 2016 list.

To find a clinic near you, use HBOT near me. You can also browse hyperbaric clinics in Switzerland, see what hyperbaric medicine is used for, or check how to choose a clinic.

Sources

This article is for information only and is not medical advice. Whether HBOT is appropriate for you should be decided with a qualified physician.

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