Skip Navigation


eCAM Advance Access originally published online on October 6, 2004
eCAM 2004 1(3):321-325; doi:10.1093/ecam/neh038
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
1/3/321    most recent
neh038v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Clavo, B.
Right arrow Articles by Robaina, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Clavo, B.
Right arrow Articles by Robaina, F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© 2004, the authors Evidenced-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Vol. 1, Issue 3 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved. The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated.

Adjuvant Ozonetherapy in Advanced Head and Neck Tumors: A Comparative Study

Bernardino Clavo1,7,*, Ana Ruiz1,7, Marta Lloret1,7, Laura López1,7, Gerardo Suárez1,7, David Macías2,7, Victor Rodríguez6, Maria A. Hernández1,7, Roberto Martín-Oliva2, Santiago Quintero3, José M Cuyás4 and Francisco Robaina5,7

1Department of Radiation Oncology-Research Unit Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain, 2Department of Medical Physics Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain, 3Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain, 4Otolaryngology Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain, 5Department of Neurosurgery and Chronic Pain Unit of the Dr Negrín Hospital Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain, 6La Paterna Medical Center Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain, and 7Canary Islands Institute for Cancer Research (ICIC) Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain

Advanced head and neck (H&N) tumors have a poor prognosis, and this is worsened by the occurrence of hypoxia and ischemia in the tumors. Ozonetherapy has proved useful in the treatment of ischemic syndromes, and several studies have described a potential increase of oxygenation in tissues and tumors. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the clinical effect of ozonetherapy in patients with advanced H&N cancer in the course of their scheduled radiotherapy. Over a period of 3 years, 19 patients with advanced H&N tumors who were undergoing treatment in our department with non-standard fractionated radiotherapy plus oral tegafur. A group of 12 patients was additionally treated with intravenous chemotherapy before and/or during radiotherapy. In the other group of seven patients, systemic ozonetherapy was administered twice weekly during radiotherapy. The ozonetherapy group was older (64 versus 54 years old, P = 0.006), with a higher percentage of lymph node involvement (71% versus 8%, P = 0.019) and with a trend to more unfavorable tumor stage (57% versus 8% IVb + IVc stages, P = 0.073). However, there was no significant difference in overall survival between the chemotherapy (median 6 months) and ozonetherapy (8 months) groups. Although these results have to be viewed with caution because of the limited number of patients, they suggest that ozonetherapy could have had some positive effect during the treatment of our patients with advanced H&N tumors. The adjuvant administration of ozonetherapy during the chemo–radiotherapy for these tumors merits further research.

Keywords: altered fractionation – alternative medicine – cancer – chemotherapy – radiotherapy – tegafur

*For reprints and all correspondence: Bernardino Clavo, Department of Radiation Oncology & Research Unit, Hospital Dr Negrín, C/Barranco la Ballena s/n, 35020 Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain. Tel: +34-928-450284; Fax: +34-928-449127; E-mail: bernardinoclavo{at}terra.es


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.