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Other common
name(s): oxygenation therapy, hyperoxygenation,
bio-oxidative therapy, oxidative therapy, ozone therapy,
autohemotherapy, hydrogen peroxide therapy, oxidology, oxymedicine,
germanium sesquioxide
Scientific/medical
name(s): O3 (ozone), H2O2
(hydrogen peroxide)
Description
Oxygen therapy introduces substances into the body that are
supposed to release oxygen. The extra oxygen is believed to increase
the body's ability to destroy disease-causing cells. Two of the most
common compounds used in oxygen therapy are hydrogen peroxide and
ozone—a chemically active form of oxygen. This type of
treatment is different from the common medical uses of oxygen, which
involve increasing the amount of oxygen gas in inhaled air. It is also
different from hyperbaric oxygen, which involves the use of pressurized
oxygen gas (see our document on Hyperbaric
Oxygen Therapy).
Overview
Available scientific evidence does not support claims that
putting oxygen-releasing chemicals into a person's body is effective in
treating cancer. It may even be dangerous. There have been reports of
patient deaths from this method.
How is it promoted for use?
Different varieties of oxygen therapy are promoted as
alternative treatments for dozens of diseases, including certain types
of cancer, asthma, emphysema, AIDS, arthritis, heart and vascular
diseases, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Some supporters claim that cancer cells thrive in low-oxygen
environments. They believe adding oxygen to the body creates an
oxygen-rich condition in which cancer cells cannot survive. Supporters
of this type of treatment claim that it increases the efficiency of all
cells in the body and increases energy, promotes the production of
antioxidants, and enhances the immune system. Available scientific
evidence does not support these claims.
What does it involve?
Ozone gas may be mixed with air or liquids and introduced into
the body. It may be given under pressure into the rectum, vagina, or
other body opening or injected into a muscle or under the skin. In an
approach called autohemotherapy,
the practitioner uses a special device to force ozone into a pint of
blood that has been drawn from the patient. The blood is then returned
to the patient's body.
In conventional medicine and first aid, a dilute solution of
hydrogen peroxide is applied to skin wounds. As an alternative therapy,
hydrogen peroxide is usually taken by mouth or injected into a vein.
Some practitioners promote it for use rectally, vaginally, as a nasal
spray, and as eardrops. It is often used to soak affected parts of the
body. The stronger solutions (about 35 percent) recommended by
alternative medicine practitioners are sold in some health food stores.
The frequency of treatments varies widely, from three times a
day over several weeks to once a week for several months.
What is the history behind it?
The history of putting oxygen-releasing substances into the
body follows several tracks. Interest in ozone dates back to the
mid-1800s in Germany, where it was claimed to purify blood. During
World War I, doctors used ozone to treat wounds, trench foot, and the
effects of poison gas. In the 1920s, ozone and hydrogen peroxide were
used experimentally to treat the flu.
One of the earliest accounts of the medical use of hydrogen
peroxide was a short article by I.N. Love, MD, in 1888 in the Journal
of the American Medical Association. Dr. Love described one case in
which he felt hydrogen peroxide had been useful in removing pus from
the nose and throat of a child with diphtheria, and also recommended
using hydrogen peroxide for "cancer of the womb… as a
cleanser, deodorizer, and stimulator of healing." Unlike most current
articles in that prestigious journal, the 1888 report did not include
details that would be required today, such as whether patients treated
with peroxide lived longer than those receiving placebo, or even
whether there was any evidence that peroxide caused cancers of the womb
to shrink or disappear. In 1920, hydrogen peroxide injections were used
to treat patients during an epidemic of viral pneumonia.
In 1919, William F. Koch, MD, a Detroit physician, proposed
that cancer was caused by a single toxin and that the disease could be
prevented or reversed by removing that toxin. To achieve this goal, Dr.
Koch claimed he had developed glyoxylide, an oxygen compound that could
be injected into patients’ muscles. Dr. Koch and his
followers claimed that glyoxylide
forced cancer cells to absorb oxygen, which helped to rid the body of
the cancer-causing toxin. In 1942, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) charged Dr. Koch with making false claims about
glyoxylide. The courts upheld the accusations, and in 1963 the
California Cancer Advisory Council reported that glyoxylide therapy had
"no value in the diagnosis, treatment, alleviation, or cure of cancer."
Later researchers were unable to confirm that glyoxylide ever existed,
and studies by theoretical physical chemists showed that the chemical
structure that Koch claimed to be glyoxylide cannot possibly exist.
(Even so, a number of alternative medicine Web sites still promote
glyoxylide as a cancer cure.)
During the 1930s, Otto Warburg, MD, a winner of the Nobel
Prize in 1931 for his research on respiratory enzymes, discovered that
cancer cells have a lower respiration rate than normal cells. He
reasoned that cancer cells thrived in a low-oxygen environment and that
increased oxygen levels might therefore harm and even kill them. Many
of the beliefs held by oxygen therapy practitioners are based on Dr.
Warburg’s theories concerning cancer, even though technical
advances have since offered a great deal more information about how
cancer cells really use oxygen. Even if more oxygen is available, it
does not cause the cancer cell to switch back to normal oxygen use.
And, a higher oxygen level does not seem to hurt cancer cells any more
than it hurts healthy cells.
Much of the more recent use of hydrogen peroxide can be traced
to Father Richard Wilhelm, a retired high school teacher and former
Army chaplain. He claimed to have discovered the healing potential of
hydrogen peroxide through acquaintance with a doctor who headed the
Mayo Clinic's division of experimental bacteriology, Edward Carl
Rosenow, MD. Wilhelm promoted drinking hydrogen peroxide for a host of
human ailments.
What is the evidence?
Available scientific evidence does not support claims that
increasing oxygen levels in the body will harm or kill cancer cells. It
is difficult to get the oxygen level around the cancer cells in the
middle of a tumor higher because the blood supply tends to be poor. But
there are differences in the way cancer cells use oxygen that may allow
new treatments to better target cancer cells.
According to Dr. Stephen Barrett, who writes about health
fraud, a researcher from the Dominican Republic claimed that his clinic
had used ozone gas to cure thirteen people with cancer. An
investigative news group later learned that two of the patients had
died of cancer, three could not be found, two refused to be
interviewed, three were alive but still had cancer, and in three cases
it was not clear that the patients had actually ever had cancer.
Some researchers have studied hydrogen peroxide as an addition
to radiation therapy. Although some patients appeared to benefit, many
did not. Some laboratory tests have looked at the combined effects of
hydrogen peroxide and certain chemotherapy drugs against cancer cells,
but it is still too early to tell if this will be of any benefit.
According to a review article in CA:
A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, attempts to treat
patients by injecting hydrogen peroxide directly into solid tumors or
into the blood system have generally been ineffective. In one study,
mice were injected with glucose oxidase (an enzyme that breaks down
glucose, with one of the byproducts being hydrogen peroxide) bound to
microspheres, a technique that caused hydrogen peroxide to be released
directly at the tumor site. Mice that received injections lived longer
than those that did not. The researchers in this study concluded that
more research on the use of hydrogen peroxide with other anti-tumor
drugs was needed.
In one 2008 study, some tumors in rabbits disappeared without
any treatment, but more disappeared after treatment with ordinary
oxygen, and even more disappeared after ozone treatment. In this study,
the oxygen and ozone were injected into the rabbits' abdomens
(peritoneal space). However, the relevance of such tumors to cancer in
humans remains unproven.
A 2001 review of ozone therapy concluded that "…
few rigorous clinical trials of the treatment exist. Those that have
been published demonstrated no evidence of effect… Until
more positive evidence emerges, ozone therapy should be avoided."
Are there any possible problems or
complications?
The medical literature contains several accounts of patient
deaths attributed directly to putting oxygen-releasing substances into
the body.
Hydrogen peroxide can be harmful if swallowed, especially the
concentrated solutions sold in some health food stores. "Food grade"
peroxide is very concentrated. It contains 35 percent hydrogen
peroxide, a concentration that is more than ten times stronger than the
3 percent peroxide approved for use on the skin. Food grade hydrogen
peroxide is approved by the FDA to clean food surfaces and for certain
bleaching tasks in food production. The FDA requires that any peroxide
that might remain in food be broken down into oxygen and water before
the food reaches the consumer. Drinking food grade hydrogen peroxide
can cause vomiting, severe burns of the throat and stomach, and even
death. If it gets in the eyes, it can damage the corneas and cause
blindness. Direct skin contact with food grade hydrogen peroxide can
cause blistering or burns, and breathing its vapors can also be
harmful.
Hydrogen peroxide injections can have dangerous side effects.
High blood levels of hydrogen peroxide can create oxygen bubbles that
block blood flow and cause gangrene and death. Destruction of blood
cells has also been reported after intravenous injection of hydrogen
peroxide. Some people can also have serious allergic reactions to
hydrogen peroxide. A 1993 review article also found some research
evidence that too much oxygen in the body's tissues may damage genetic
material and promote abnormal growth.
A 2001 review of ozone therapy warned that "The risks of ozone
therapy are played down by its proponents. Yet, numerous reports of
serious complications, including hepatitis, and at least five
fatalities have been reported."
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not use this
method, as its possible effects on a fetus are unknown. Relying on this
type of treatment alone and avoiding or delaying conventional medical
care for cancer may have serious health consequences.
Additional resources
More information from your American Cancer
Society
The following information on complementary and alternative
therapies may also be helpful to you. These materials may be found on
our Web site (www.cancer.org)
or ordered from our toll-free number (1-800-ACS-2345).
References
American Cancer Society. Questionable methods of cancer
management: hydrogen peroxide and other 'hyperoxygenation' therapies. CA Cancer J Clin.
1993;43:47-56.
Barrett S. "Miraculous recoveries". Quackwatch Web site.
Available online at:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/miracles.html.
Updated October 18, 2000. Accessed June 11, 2008.
Cassileth B. The
Alternative Medicine Handbook: The Complete Reference Guide to
Alternative and Complementary Therapies. New York, NY:
W.W. Norton; 1998.
Cina SJ, Downs JC, Conradi SE. Hydrogen peroxide: a source of
lethal oxygen embolism. Case report and review of the literature. Am J Forensic Med Pathol.
1994;15:44-50.
Ernst E. A primer of complementary and alternative medicine
commonly used by cancer patients. MJA
2001; 174: 88-92
FDA warns consumers against drinking high-strength hydrogen
peroxide for medicinal use. FDA News. July 27, 2006. US Food and Drug
Administration Web site.
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01420.html. Accessed June
11, 2008. Gatenby RA, Gillies RJ. Why do cancers have high aerobic
glycolysis? Nat Rev
Cancer. 2004 Nov;4(11):891-9.
Green S. Oxygenation therapy: unproven treatments for cancer
and AIDS. Quackwatch Web site.
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/oxygen.html.
Accessed June 11, 2008.
León OS, Menéndez S, Merino N, Castillo
R, Sam S, Pérez L, Cruz E, Bocci V. Ozone oxidative
preconditioning: a protection against cellular damage by free radicals.
Mediators Inflamm.
1998;7:289-294.
Loughlin KR, Manson K, Cragnale D, Wilson L, Ball RA, Bridges
KR. The use of hydrogen peroxide to enhance the efficacy of doxorubicin
hydrochloride in a murine bladder tumor cell line. J Urol.
2001;165:1300-1304.
Oxygen therapies. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Web
site. http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69317.cfm. Accessed June 11,
2008.
Sherman SJ, Boyer LV, Sibley WA. Cerebral infarction
immediately after ingestion of hydrogen peroxide solution. Stroke.
1994;25:1065-1067.
Schultz S, Häussler U, Mandic R, Heverhagen J, et al.
Treatment with ozone/oxygen-pneumoperitoneum results in complete
remission of rabbit squamous cell carcinomas. Int J Cancer 2008;
122(10): 2360-7.
Watt BE, Proudfoot AT, Vale JA. Hydrogen peroxide poisoning. Toxicol Rev.
2004;23:51-57.
Last Medical Review: 10/24/2008
Last Revised: 10/24/2008
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