Study: Vitamin C i.v. and local hyperthermia in metastatic lung cancer

A recent randomized controlled trial evaluated the combination of vitamin C i.v. and local hyperthermia (HT) in 97 patients with advanced, more refractory stage IIIb or IV NSCLC. Due to lack of response or poor tolerability, no further chemotherapy, radiotherapy or immunotherapy was performed. Equally important was the observation that vitamin C i.v. plus hyperthermia significantly improved the quality of life despite the advanced stage of the disease. The physical, emotional and global health status improved in the VitC/HT group and worsened in the control group - the quality of life was significantly better after 9 weeks of treatment in the VitC/HT group. It is noteworthy that many symptoms gradually decreased in the active treatment arm despite the advanced NSCLC and the comparatively short 9-week treatment period. In contrast, the strength of symptoms in the control arm increased over the course of treatment. In particular, the symptoms fatigue, nausea, pain, dyspnoea, loss of appetite and constipation differed significantly in both groups - they decreased in the VitC/HT group and increased in the control group.

author:
Claudia Vollbracht, graduate human biologist
M.Sc. Naturopathy around complementary medicine
Medical Science Specialist at Pascoe Natural Medicine
e-mail: claudia.vollbracht@pascoe.de