A New Zealand case study: The use of ozone therapy as an adjunctive support treatment with radiation therapy in prostate cancer. Case report.

Background

Prostate cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy commonly experience side-effects such as fatigue, skin burns, urinary and bowel irritation, and incontinence. Some patients look for complementary approaches that might reduce treatment-related side-effects without interfering with conventional oncology care. This case report, published in the Ozone Therapy Global Journal, describes one such approach in a New Zealand patient: the use of ozone therapy alongside radiation therapy for prostate cancer that had recurred after surgery.

Study design

This is a single case report (n=1) describing a 57-year-old man in New Zealand whose prostate adenocarcinoma recurred in the lymph nodes following robotic prostatectomy. He underwent a five-week course of radiation therapy (23 sessions) combined with hormonal medication (goserelin, abiraterone acetate/prednisone). Alongside this conventional treatment, he received ozone therapy in the form of ozonated saline intravenous infusions and minor autohaemotherapy (a procedure in which a small volume of the patient's own blood is mixed with medical ozone and reinjected). The report also discusses the broader New Zealand regulatory and terminology context for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), noting how inconsistent definitions can affect communication between patients and physicians.

Findings

The patient completed the full radiation course and reported markedly fewer of the typical side-effects associated with pelvic radiation therapy than would usually be expected. At fifteen months of follow-up, he remained healthy with no reported side-effects attributable to the radiation therapy itself, although he did experience some adverse effects from the pharmaceutical hormonal agents used alongside it. The author describes the ozone therapy as having been administered safely alongside the conventional treatment throughout this period.

What the authors concluded

The author concluded that, in this single patient, ozone therapy appeared to be both safe and effective when used as a complementary support alongside conventional radiation therapy for prostate cancer, and that it may have contributed to the reduced side-effect burden observed. The report calls for clearer terminology and guidance around complementary and alternative medicine use within New Zealand's medical framework to support better-informed physician-patient discussions.

Limitations of this study

This is a single case report, not a controlled trial, so no conclusions can be drawn about how typical or reproducible this outcome is. There is no comparison group, so it is not possible to separate the effects of ozone therapy from natural variation in individual response to radiation therapy, the specific radiation protocol used, or other factors in this patient's care. Findings from one person cannot be generalised to other patients or cancer types. This study concerns a single prostate cancer case. It does not establish ozone as a treatment or cure for cancer itself. Ozone therapy is a complementary approach and should always be discussed with your oncology team.