Ozonetherapy in Various Pathologies
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CHAPTER24 OZONETHERAPY IN VARIOUS PATHOLOGIES "Natura inflrmttatts humanae tardiora sunt remedia quam mala " Tacitus (-54-120 A.D.), The Life ofGnaeus Julius Agricola, Chapter 3 (From the nature ofhuman frailty, remedies work more slowly than illnesses) What Tacitus asserted remains true even today with modem medicine, although he could not know that some diseases (atherosclerosis, cancer) take years to set in. The title of the 14th Annual Euro Meeting (March 5-8, 2002, Basel) is "The Patient is Waiting", meaning that "At the start of the 21'1 century only a relatively small proportion ofall diseases can be adequately treated or even cured and only a small proportion of all patients have access to medicinal products at affordable prices". Although this seems a pretty harsh judgement, it is true that for some diseases we do not yet have a rational drug treatment, that diseases are often poorly treated , and that too many patients in poor countries do not receive any benefit or even worse are the prey of quacks . However, we can forget neither the value of antibiotics and vaccines nor the long effort to fulfil Paul Erhlich's dream of the magic bullet, which , in spite of enormous expenses, has so far yielded meagre results and remains amirage. I often complain that basic and clinical research on ozonetherapy has been too little and too slow . Yet, therapeutic progress in cancer therapy has also not been as fast and positive as had been predicted. Three decades have already passed since President Richard Nixon dec1ared war on cancer and, although knowledge about tumorigenesis has shown an incredible expansion, the mortality rate has barely decreased. I very much hope that the new generation of drugs, like the specific inhibitor 2-phenylamino pyrimidine (STI-571), which precisely targets the AbI tyrosine kinase in chronic myeloid leukemia cells, lives up to expectations and does not disappo int us as several potential miracle eures have done (Gorre et a1., 2001). Indeed there always appears to be unforeseen toxicity observed during prolonged treatment, as occurred for the HAART (Hruz et al., 2001 ; Fellay et a1. , 2001) which in 1996 seemed to have resolved the problem ofHIV disease. All the hype during the last decade about research on gene therapy of tumours and more recently therapeutic angiogenesis (Isner et al., 1996; Patterson and Runge, 2000; Simons, 2001), once again obtained at huge cost, has indeed generated new knowledge and allowed authors to publish interesting papers in the best medical journals. Yet, all ofthis has , so far, yielded only minimal practical results and even a few deaths . Recent developments in autoimmune diseases have highlighted potentially useful new therapies with an anti-TNFa monoclonal IgG 1 antibody and a protein made of two chains ofp75 TNF receptor monomer fused to the Fe domain of IgG 1 (Hanauer 243 V. Bocci, Oxygen-Ozone Therapy © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2002 244 CHAPTER24 and Oassopoulos, 2001). However, it remains uneertain whether they are simply able to alleviate symptoms for a while or, more importantly, to modify the course of these diseases. If I believed aneedotal results of ozonetherapy, obtained with minimal resourees and manpower, I would say that perhaps ozonetherapy is not as bad or obsolete as orthodox medicine depiets it. Yet rather than resting on false laureIs, I would incite ozonetherapists to work hard and seriously; the sooner we clarify the validity of ozonetherapy the better it will be for everyone. As will be discussed in this chapter, the medical applications ofozonetherapy are innumerable (Table 19) and this fact exposes the approach to medical derision. Is it possible that ozone acts as a panacea or the ill-famed Theriaca? Aecording to tradition, Andromachus (who was Nero's quack) invented Theriaea, a very complex mixture able to neutralize poisoning and eure every illness! Indeed, he wrote a poem in 175 verses (Oe Theriaca) to describe and praise it. Table 19. Ozonetherapy is used in thefollowing medical spectalities. Angiology Gerontology Oncology Cardiology Gynaeeology Orthopaedies Cosmetology Hepatology Pneumology Oentistry Infectivology Rheumatology Oermatology Intensive therapy Surgery Gastroenterology Neurology Urology The answer is a decisive NO and only a superficial observer or a sareastie skeptic would say YES : In reality, ozonetherapy seems to exert beneficial effeets in so many, and somewhat unrelated, pathologies beeause ozone aets at abasie level on several blood eomponents with different funetions. Moreover, the generated ROS and LOPs not only have the most powerful disinfeetant aetivity but ean aet either loeally or systemieally in praetieally all eells of an organism. The most important ROS are listed in Chapter 9 (Table 6), while only the most signifieant LOPs (we know very little about them as ozone effeetor molecules) are mentioned in Chapters 9 and 10. Target cells vary from bacteria, fungi, parasites to blood and all eells ofthe body. The reason why I decided to continue working in this controversial field is that I believe, in contrast to the erroneous (that is only my opinion!) axiom that "ozone is toxie any way you deal with it", that oxygen-ozone, if properly used, can act contemporaneously as a disinfectant, an oxygen donor, an immunomodulator, an inducer ofantioxidants (this is a real paradoxl) a metabolie enhancer and perhaps as an activator of resident stern cells . It is difficult to figure out how beneficial effects can develop during ozonetherapy, but Figure 90 attempts to give a visual image of how this can happen. The centre of action is always the plasma, where ozone dissolves and generates all the effector moleeules that interaet with erythrocytes (ER), BMC, granulocytes (GRAN), platelets (PLAT) and the Endothelium. All of OZONETHERAPY IN VARIOUS PA THOLOGIES 245 these cells will be more or less affected depending on the ozone concentration and the ozonization modality, which in any case must be absolutely risk-free. Figure 90. The multivaried biological response ofthe organism to ozonized blood can he envisaged hy considering that ozonized hlood cells and compounds interact with a number of organ s. Some ofthese represent real targets (liver in chronic hepatitis, vascular systemfor vasculopathies), while other argan s are prohahly involved in restoring normal homeostasis This aspect is important to understand the consequent effects that will be directed to twelve different organs or functional sectors. The plasma and the extracellular fluid are the media interconnecting the ozone generated compounds, cell released moleeules (cytokines, growth factor, autacoids, PAF, metabolites, etc.) and a multitude of target cells. Therefore, the ozonetherapeutic stimulus simultaneously triggers many functional activities, thus allowing a multivaried therapeutic response, but also prornotes a calculated, transitory oxidative stress which, unlike chronic endogenous oxidative stress, has the value of a therapeutic "shock". As an exaggerated example, somewhat like the dreaded 246 CHAPTER24 e1ectroshock that we used to inf1ict on schizophrenic patients when I was a medical student! In our case , the difference is substantial as we do not harm the patient and yet we induce one of the most important body responses, i.e. upregulation of the antioxidant system which is far more than the simple adaptation to COS (Fig . 88). If this is true, and we can prove or disprove it experimentally, ozone may stimulate and correct the natural resources gone astray, in accordance with the old saw "Medicus curat, natura sanat" (The physician treats, nature heals). There is a profound difference between modern orthodox medicine and ozonetherapy. On the basis ofbiochemical, physiological and pharmacological data, the former tries to develop a specific drug able to correct the cause of the disease, and if this succeeds the result is wonderful. Unfortunately this does not always happen or the success is not complete because a disease generally causes many dysfunctions and the use of a reductionist approach is inherently disadvantageous. Although ozonetherapy has limited specificity, it has the considerable advantage that "the hodgepodge of ozonized products" can mobilize natural resources that eventually may resolve the overall problem. With this, I am not saying that ozonetherapy is preferable; my deep feeling is that, in any circumstance, we must first offer the patient the best treatment that orthodox medicine provides. Only ifthis does not work, or has serious side effects, or the patient does not comply with it, can we offer the option of ozonetherapy if it is applicable to the disease.I would also take this opportunity to reject the term "alternative" because ozonetherapy, as empirical as it is today, cannot be antithetical but only complementary. This is the correct term. It would certainly be a wonderful achievement if, one day, official medicine would state that "for this disease. ozonetherapy is the therapy (4' choice", This would mean that ozonetherapy has gained respect but, I guess that plenty of water will pass under the bridge before that day arrives. In spite ofimportant advances, conventional medicine is still unable to provide a definitive improvement in some pathologies. Thus it is reasonable and ethically correct to take advantage of ozonetherapy when the best orthodox treatment has failed. As typical examples, I will report treatment of a) suppurative infections refractory to all antibiotics, b) III and IV grade hind-limb