Oxygen and Ozone Therapy

 

Oxygen is vital to human cells while harmful to most pathogenic and infectious agents.

Oxygen energizes the metabolism, activates enzymes, detoxifies the cells. White blood cells use hydrogen peroxide to kill bacteria, and with every breath, we exchange oxygen with carbon dioxide inside every cell.

 

Extra oxygen can be given through many ways. Hyperbaric oxygen chamber and use extra atmospheric pressure to put oxygen in our body, Oxygen and Ozone can be directly injected into joints, muscles, tissues, and abscesses, hydrogen peroxide can be infused intravenously. Ozone and oxygen can also be mixed into our blood after it has been taken out of the body in a bag. Another method is ozone and oxygen infusion into the intestine and bladder.

 

When oxygen enters into the tissues, special reactive oxygen species are formed, which stimulates the immune system, alkalinize the blood, and sterilizes the cellular compartment. These reactions can be useful in treating many chronic illnesses and infections, autoimmune diseases could be modified by the reactive oxygen species formed from ionic oxygen reactions.

　

The different outcomes of patients with disc herniation treated either by microdiscectomy, or by intradiscal ozone injection.
Acta Neurochir Suppl. 2005;92:139-42.
Paradiso R, Alexandre A.

European Neurosurgical Institute, Treviso, Italy. info@eunionline.com

Disc herniation with radiculopathy and chronic discogenic pain are the result of degenerative processes. Treatment approach in face of this problem has largely been debated in the last years. A number of reviews on surgical treatments in the '80s and '90s have been published and various new techniques have been introduced among which ozone discolysis is one non-invasive intradiscal treatment method. In a 3-year follow-up period we have investigated the different outcomes of 150 patients who received microdiscectomy and 150 patients who received intradiscal ozone injection. In this series results are in favour of discolysis for contained disc herniations and of microdiscectomy for large migrated fragments with pain so severe that open surgery was obligatory. Apart from this, our results with the two techniques are equivalent also concerning mild neurological motor deficits.

 

Ozone chemonucleolysis in non-contained lumbar disc herniations: a pilot study with 12 months follow-up.
Acta Neurochir Suppl. 2005;92:93-7.
Buric J, Molino Lova R.

Unita Funzionale di Chirurgia Spinale c.d.c. Villanova, Florence, Italy. joburic@tin.it

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective case series with six and twelve months follow up. OBJECTIVE: To observe clinical and morphological results of the intradiscal ozone chemionucleolysis in patients affected by non-contained lumbar disc herniations. METHODS: 30 patients were included in the study on the base of precise inclusion and exclusion criteria. The patients were followed on 6 and 12 months period by Visual Analogic Scale (VAS), Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) and Overall Patient Rating Scale (OPRS). Disc herniation volume morphology was evaluated at 5 months by control MRI scanning. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients (90%) showed a statistically significant improvement in pain (P < 0.001, Wilcoxon test) and function (P < 0.001, Wilcoxon test), on VAS and RMDQ evaluation, respectively. The mean satisfaction with the treatment on OPSR was 79.3%, with 24 patients referring satisfaction equal or greater than 80%. There were no major complications related to the procedure. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate the ozone chemonucleolysis as a possibly effective modality of treatment in patients affected by signs and symptoms of non-contained lumbar disc herniations that have overpassed conservative measures and have not yet fulfilled the indications for open surgical treatment.

Treatment of herniated lumbar disc by intradiscal and intraforaminal oxygen-ozone (O2-O3) injection.
J Neuroradiol. 2004 Jun;31(3):183-9.
Muto M, Andreula C, Leonardi M.

Neuroradiology OU, AORN Cardarelli, Naples, Italy.

MATERIAL: We report our experience between May 1996 and May 2003 with 2200 patients affected by low back pain or sciatica due to herniated disk treated by intradiscal and intraforaminal oxygen-ozone injection. The patients received medical and physical therapy before treatment for at least 2 months; the patients with conus-cauda syndrome and hyperalgesic sciatica were excluded. We never performed discography before the treatment that was performed under CT guidance or fluoroscopy. CT provided monitoring of gas distribution in the disk and epidural space. RESULTS: No side effects were recorded at short and long-term follow-up. Clinical results were evaluated with the modified McNab method showing an 80% success rate and 20% failure rate in 1750 patients followed up to 6 months while the success rate dropped down at 75% and failure increased at 25% in 1400 followed up to 18 months. CT showed reduction in the size of the herniated disk in only 63% of the followed patients (420 patients). The failure has been mostly related to: calcified herniated disk; spinal canal stenosis; recurrent herniated disk with epidural fibrosis; small descending herniated disk at the level of the lateral recess. Copyright 2004 Masson, Paris