H2 Therapy for Advanced Lung Cancer: Tumor Control & Medication ReliefScientific Research

Hydrogen Therapy Helps with Lung Cancer

Hydrogen therapy slows the progression of tumors in non-small cell lung cancer and reduces the side effects of conventional treatments. This is according to results from a study conducted at Fuda Cancer Hospital. The study involved 58 patients who were treated with hydrogen therapy, either alone or in combination with other treatments, to observe its effects on the cancer and their overall condition. The study was approved by the hospital’s Ethics Committee.

Here’s how the study was conducted. Patients were divided into five groups depending on their treatment plans. The first group received only hydrogen therapy. The second group did not receive any treatment and acted as a control. The remaining three groups received a combination of hydrogen therapy with chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy. The main goal was to check whether hydrogen therapy could not only control the cancer but also mitigate the adverse side effects usually associated with conventional treatments.

The cancer develops more slowly in patients with hydrogen therapy.

In hydrogen therapy, patients inhale hydrogen mixed with oxygen for 4 to 6 hours each day over five months. The control group underwent a sham procedure with only oxygen. The patients were closely monitored. They underwent imaging tests, such as CT scans and MRI, every month to check for changes in their tumors.

Hydrogen therapy provides even better results in combination with traditional treatment.

The benefits were even more significant in the groups that combined hydrogen therapy with conventional treatments. Patients in these groups had a longer progression-free survival. Over 10 months for the group with immunotherapy with hydrogen. Over 9 months for the group with targeted therapy with hydrogen. 8 and a half months for the group with chemotherapy with hydrogen. These results show that hydrogen therapy can enhance the effectiveness of existing cancer treatment methods.

Hydrogen therapy reduces the side effects of conventional treatments.

Hydrogen therapy has helped to reduce the side effects of conventional treatments. Patients experienced fewer symptoms such as cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath. They also had fewer drug-related side effects like nausea, vomiting, rashes, and dizziness. In the group treated with chemotherapy with hydrogen, there was a significant reduction in symptoms such as feverishness, anemia, and low platelet counts in the blood. This improvement in managing side effects can significantly enhance the quality of life for patients.

The study conducted at the Fuda Cancer Hospital shows that hydrogen therapy can be a safe and effective way to support cancer treatment, facilitating patients to tolerate drugs from conventional treatment protocols and reducing the likelihood of severe side effects.


The Original Article:

original title: Hydrogen therapy can be used to control tumor progression and alleviate the adverse events of medications in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

DOI: 10.4103/2045-9912.285560

Published on: 2020


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Abstract:

Chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy are used against advanced non-small cell lung cancer. A clinically efficacious method for relieving the adverse events associated of such therapies is lacking. Fifty-eight adult patients were enrolled in our trial to relieve pulmonary symptoms or the adverse events of drugs. Twenty patients who refused drug treatment were assigned equally and randomly to a hydrogen (H2)-only group and a control group. According to the results of tumor-gene mutations and drug-sensitivity tests, 10, 18, and 10 patients were enrolled into chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy groups in which these therapies were combined with H2-therapy, respectively. Patients underwent H2 inhalation for 4–5 hours per day for 5 months or stopped when cancer recurrence. Before study initiation, the demographics (except for tumor-mutation genes) and pulmonary symptoms (except for moderate cough) of the five groups showed no significant difference. During the first 5 months of treatment, the prevalence of symptoms of the control group increased gradually, whereas that of the four treatment groups decreased gradually. After 16 months of follow-up, progression-free survival of the control group was lower than that of the H2-only group, and significantly lower than that of H2 + chemotherapy, H2 + targeted therapy, and H2 + immunotherapy groups. In the combined-therapy groups, most drug-associated adverse events decreased gradually or even disappeared. H2 inhalation was first discovered in the clinic that can be used to control tumor progression and alleviate the adverse events of medications for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Fuda Cancer Hospital of Jinan University on December 7, 2018 (approval No. Fuda20181207), and was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT03818347) on January 28, 2019.

Authors:

Feng Mu, Ji-Bing Chen, Ke-Cheng Xu, Tian-Yu Lu, Xiao-Feng Kong, You-Yong Lu

Institutions:
Original Publication
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