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Ozone therapy is an alternative medical treatment that introduces ozone or ozonides to the body. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prohibits all medical uses of ozone "in any medical condition for which there is no proof of safety and effectiveness", stating "ozone is a toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy. For ozone to be germicidal, it must be present in a concentration far greater than that which can be safely tolerated by man and animals." [1]
Ozone therapy has been sold as an unproven treatment for various illnesses, including cancer, a practice which has been characterized as "pure quackery". [2] The therapy can cause serious adverse effects, including death. [3]
Ozone therapy consists of the introduction of ozone into the body via various methods, usually involving its mixture with various gases and liquids before injection, with potential routes including the vagina, rectum, intramuscular (in a muscle), subcutaneously (under the skin), or intravenously (directly into veins). Ozone can also be introduced via autohemotherapy, in which blood is drawn from the patient, exposed to ozone, and re-injected into the patient. [4]
This therapy has been proposed as a primary or adjunct therapy for various diseases, including osteoarthritis, [5] [6] [7] herniated disk, [8] chronic wounds, [9] hepatitis B [10] [11] and C, [12] [13] herpes zoster, [14] HIV-AIDS, [15] multiple sclerosis, [16] cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's dementia, and Lyme disease, though supportive evidence for some of these applications is limited. The American Cancer Society warned in 2010 that evidence for the efficacy of ozone therapy against cancer is inconclusive, and the therapy may be dangerous. [4] For treatment of HIV/AIDS, although ozone deactivates the viral particles in vitro, well-designed studies have shown there is no benefit for living patients. [17]
The United States Food and Drug Administration initially stated in 1976, and reiterated its position in 2006, that when inhaled, ozone is a toxic gas that has no demonstrated safe medical application, though their position statements primarily deal with its potential for causing inflammation and pulmonary edema in the lungs. They also emphasize that for ozone to be effective as a germicide, it must be present at concentrations far greater than can be safely tolerated by humans or other animals. [18] More recent reviews have highlighted that different routes of administration may result in different therapeutic and side-effect profiles. [19]
Some reviews have suggested ozone as a potential treatment for herniated discs [20] and diabetic neuropathy. [21] There is some controversy about its use by athletes to increase performance despite numerous adverse side effects within the pulmonary and/or skeletal muscle systems. Although its use is not disallowed in and of itself, it can be mixed with banned substances for administration prior to injection. [22]
Ozone therapy has potentially serious adverse effects, and as of 2012 [update] at least five deaths had been reported due to the therapy's use on people with cancer. [3] From 1975 to 1983 in Germany, research revealed six deaths, four cases of visual disturbance, three cases of paraplegias, four gas embolisms in the pulmonary circuit, two myocardial infarction, four pulmonary embolisms, two cases of apoplexy paralysis, and two cases of cardiac arrhythmia following ozone therapy. More commonly, pulmonary edema is the most prevalent adverse effect of ozone treatment. In the muscular system, many cases of tendon rupture, osteoarthritis, myositis, synovitis, joint infections, and muscle tears have been documented as results of ozone therapy. In the integumentary system, benign skin discoloration is most common. These all occurred following direct injection of O2/O3 gas: a method now regarded as malpractice by most ozone practitioners. In each case, the clinical picture corresponded either to gas embolism, or allergic shock. The fact that one case of apparent allergic shock followed the injection of a minute quantity of gas raises the unknown possibility that other methods of administration might also carry the risk of allergic shock. [23] [24]
Much of the concern related to ozone therapy revolves around the safety of blood ozonation. When inhaled by mammals in high levels, ozone reacts with compounds in tissues lining the lungs and triggers a cascade of pathological effects, including pulmonary edema, however, ozone therapy does not usually involve inhalation of ozone gas. [19] [25] It has been argued that while peroxides (a product of ozone) are naturally generated inside phagocyte cells to kill bacteria, outside the cell they can damage tissue. [26] Proponents suggest that its effects are tissue-dependent, though the subject is still debated. [19] [27]
Other serious incidents reported include transmission of hepatitis C. [28] Ozone-based treatments can be associated with central nervous system toxicity, termed Ozone Induced Encephalopathy (OIE). [29]
The FDA prohibits the medical use of ozone "in any medical condition for which there is no proof of safety and effectiveness", stating that "ozone is a toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy. For ozone to be germicidal, it must be present in a concentration far greater than that which can be safely tolerated by man and animals." [1]
Beginning in 1991 the FDA has prosecuted and sent to jail several people presenting themselves as medical doctors and selling ozone therapy products as a medical cure or operating medical clinics using ozone therapy for healing human illness. [30] [31] Arrests following similar activity have been made in other countries as well, including Uganda and Thailand. [32] [33]
Ozone therapy is sold as an expensive alternative cancer treatment in Germany. David Gorski has described the practice as "pure quackery". [2] Proponents of the therapy falsely claim it is a recognized therapy there, but the German medical establishment has not approved ozone therapy. [26]
In 2009, a panel of experts consulted by Forbes recommended that ozone therapy be included on a "list of the most egregious, dangerous, aggressively marketed health scams." [34]
Ozone therapy was banned in Malaysia in 2017. The Malaysian Health Ministry determined that the treatment could cause serious harm and had no scientific support as a treatment for any condition. [35]
On 7 August 2023, the Brazilian government legalized ozone therapy as a complementary therapy, ignoring a request for veto due to lack of scientific evidence made in an open letter from the Brazilian National Academy of Medicine. [36]
In 1856, just 16 years after its discovery, ozone was first used in a healthcare setting to disinfect operating rooms and sterilize surgical instruments. [37] By the end of the 19th century the use of ozone to disinfect drinking water of bacteria and viruses was well established in mainland Europe. [37] [38]
In 1892 The Lancet published an article describing the administration of ozone for treatment of tuberculosis. [39] During World War I, ozone was tested at Queen Alexandra Military Hospital in London as a possible disinfectant for wounds. The gas was applied directly to wounds for as long as 15 minutes. This resulted in damage to both bacterial cells and human tissue. Other sanitizing techniques, such as irrigation with antiseptics, were preferable. [40] [41]
The psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich was a proponent of ozone therapy, which was supposed to enhance an imaginary life force he called orgone. Reich developed a device utilizing ozonides in his work on bioenergetic analysis. [42]
Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness. Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of mainstream medicine and do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural "energies", pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources. Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery.
Insulin potentiation therapy (IPT) is an unproven alternative cancer treatment using insulin as an adjunct to low-dose chemotherapy. It was promoted by a paper in the controversial and non-peer reviewed journal Medical Hypotheses. It is not an evidence-based cancer treatment, and the costs of IPT are not covered by health insurance.
Magnetic therapy is a pseudoscientific alternative medicine practice involving the weak static magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet which is placed on the body. It is similar to the alternative medicine practice of electromagnetic therapy, which uses a magnetic field generated by an electrically powered device. Magnet therapy products may include wristbands, jewelry, blankets, and wraps that have magnets incorporated into them.
Shortness of breath (SOB), known as dyspnea or dyspnoea, is an uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe well enough. The American Thoracic Society defines it as "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity", and recommends evaluating dyspnea by assessing the intensity of its distinct sensations, the degree of distress and discomfort involved, and its burden or impact on the patient's activities of daily living. Distinct sensations include effort/work to breathe, chest tightness or pain, and "air hunger". The tripod position is often assumed to be a sign.
Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, qualification or credentials they do not possess; a charlatan or snake oil salesman". The term quack is a clipped form of the archaic term quacksalver, derived from Dutch: kwakzalver a "hawker of salve" or rather somebody who boasted about their salves, more commonly known as ointments. In the Middle Ages the term quack meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares at markets by shouting to gain attention.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer in adults and is currently the most common cause of death in people with cirrhosis. HCC is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.
Orthomolecular medicine is a form of alternative medicine that claims to maintain human health through nutritional supplementation. It is rejected by evidence-based medicine. The concept builds on the idea of an optimal nutritional environment in the body and suggests that diseases reflect deficiencies in this environment. Treatment for disease, according to this view, involves attempts to correct "imbalances or deficiencies based on individual biochemistry" by use of substances such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, trace elements and fatty acids. The notions behind orthomolecular medicine are not supported by sound medical evidence, and the therapy is not effective for chronic disease prevention; even the validity of calling the orthomolecular approach a form of medicine has been questioned since the 1970s.
Auriculotherapy is a form of alternative medicine based on the idea that the ear is a micro system and an external organ, which reflects the entire body, represented on the auricle, the outer portion of the ear. Conditions affecting the physical, mental or emotional health of the patient are assumed to be treatable by stimulation of the surface of the ear exclusively. Similar mappings are used by several modalities, including the practices of reflexology and iridology. These mappings are not based on or supported by any medical or scientific evidence, and are therefore considered to be pseudoscience.
Oxygen therapy, also referred to as supplemental oxygen, is the use of oxygen as medical treatment. Supplemental oxygen can also refer to the use of oxygen enriched air at altitude. Acute indications for therapy include hypoxemia, carbon monoxide toxicity and cluster headache. It may also be prophylactically given to maintain blood oxygen levels during the induction of anesthesia. Oxygen therapy is often useful in chronic hypoxemia caused by conditions such as severe COPD or cystic fibrosis. Oxygen can be delivered via nasal cannula, face mask, or endotracheal intubation at normal atmospheric pressure, or in a hyperbaric chamber. It can also be given through bypassing the airway, such as in ECMO therapy.
Craniosacral therapy (CST) or cranial osteopathy is a form of alternative medicine that uses gentle touch to feel non-existent rhythmic movements of the skull's bones and supposedly adjust the immovable joints of the skull to achieve a therapeutic result. CST is a pseudoscience and its practice has been characterized as quackery. It is based on fundamental misconceptions about the anatomy and physiology of the human skull and is promoted as a cure-all for a variety of health conditions.
Quackwatch is a United States–based website, self-described as a "network of people" founded by Stephen Barrett, which aims to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and to focus on "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere". Since 1996 it has operated the alternative medicine watchdog website quackwatch.org, which advises the public on unproven or ineffective alternative medical remedies. The site contains articles and other information criticizing many forms of alternative medicine.
Max Gerson was a German-born American physician who developed the Gerson therapy, a dietary-based alternative cancer treatment that he claimed could cure cancer and most chronic, degenerative diseases. Gerson therapy involves a plant-based diet with coffee enemas, ozone enemas, dietary supplements and raw calf liver extract, the latter was discontinued in the 1980s after patients were hospitalized for bacterial infections.
Alternative cancer treatment describes any cancer treatment or practice that is not part of the conventional standard of cancer care. These include special diets and exercises, chemicals, herbs, devices, and manual procedures. Most alternative cancer treatments do not have high-quality evidence supporting their use and many have been described as fundamentally pseudoscientific. Concerns have been raised about the safety of some purported treatments and some have been found unsafe in clinical trials. Despite this, many untested and disproven treatments are used around the world.
Energy medicine is a branch of alternative medicine based on a pseudo-scientific belief that healers can channel "healing energy" into patients and effect positive results. The field is defined by shared beliefs and practices relating to mysticism and esotericism in the wider alternative medicine sphere rather than any sort of unified terminology, leading to terms such as energy healing, vibrational medicine, and similar terms being used synonymously. In most cases, no empirically measurable "energy" is involved: the term refers instead to so-called subtle energy. Practitioners may classify their practice as hands-on, hands-off, or distant wherein the patient and healer are in different locations. Many approaches to energy healing exist: for example, “biofield energy healing”, “spiritual healing”, “contact healing”, “distant healing”, therapeutic touch, Reiki, and Qigong.
Radionics—also called electromagnetic therapy (EMT) and the Abrams method—is a form of alternative medicine that claims that disease can be diagnosed and treated by applying electromagnetic radiation (EMR), such as radio waves, to the body from an electrically powered device. It is similar to magnet therapy, which also applies EMR to the body but uses a magnet that generates a static electromagnetic field.
Autologous blood therapy, also known as autologous blood injection or autohemotherapy, comprises certain types of hemotherapy using a person's own blood. There are several kinds, the original belonging only to traditional medicine, alternative medicine, and some newer kind of medicine under investigation. The original, unscientific form is "the immediate intramuscular or subcutaneous reinjection of freshly drawn autologous blood". It was used in the early 20th century, when some physicians believed that it had efficacy and a logical mechanism of action; it was abandoned as advancing science made clear that it lacked those.
Low-level laser therapy (LLLT), cold laser therapy, photobiomodulation (PBM) or red light therapy is a form of medicine that applies low-level (low-power) lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to the surface of the body. Whereas high-power lasers are used in laser medicine to cut or destroy tissue, it is claimed that application of low-power lasers relieves pain or stimulates and enhances cell function. The effects appear to be limited to a specified set of wavelengths and new research has demonstrated effectiveness at myopia control. Several such devices are cleared by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and research shows potential for treating a range of medical problems including rheumatoid arthritis and oral mucositis.
Revici's Guided Chemotherapy is an ineffective cancer treatment devised by Emanuel Revici (1896–1997), a physician from Romania.
The Hallwang Clinic is a private oncology clinic based in Dornstetten, Germany, founded in 2014. It is known for selling unproven and ineffective therapies alongside more conventional cancer treatments.