Institute of General Physiology of the Unversity of Siena, Siena - Italy

Abstract:

The disinfectant activity of ozone is well recognized and ozone is used worldwide for sterilization of water. The use of ozone as complementry medical approach is less known, because it has mostely been used in an empirical fashion without a rational basis and appropriate controls. In spite of this drawback, the use of judicious and standardized ozone dosages can elicit the formation of ROS acting as natural physiological activators of several biological functions. There is now a reasonable understanding of a few mechanisms of actions and, using classical pharmacological concepts, it appera possible to formulate a rational for optimizing clinical applications. A further exciting development is that ozone, being an oxidizer,can upregulate the intracellular anti-oxidant enzymes eventually inhibiting the constant, life-long oxidative stress responsible for degenerative diseases and aging. Among various routes for administration of ozone, the autohemotransfusion procedure, consisting in exposing blood to ozone, i.e. to a calculated and brief oxidative stress, appears safe, simple, inexpensive and amenable to be adjusted to different pathological states. It is hoped that this review will help to dispel prejudices, to clarify that ozone toxicity can be tamed, to show that ozone can act a a bioregulator and to encourage controlled clinical investigations to evaluate definitively the validity of ozonetherapy (Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents, 1996; Volume 10, Number 2, Page 31)

CAN OZONETHERAPY BE USEFUL IN SOME HUMAN DISEASES?

There are several areas where O3 - AHT* has been used and examining Table III it seems that ozonetherapy is almost a panacea but actully it is not: the fact that it can be useful in unrelated pathologies is simply due to the fact that ozone can activate distinct blood cells which express different functions. There are five main patholigic areas, namely: 

1) infectious states, 
2) immune depression,
3) ishemic conditions, 
4) neurodegenerative diseases and 
5) acute and chronic articular diseases including discal hernias, where, in spite of striking advances, conventional medicine is still unable to provide a definitive improvement. 

It seems reasonable and ethically correct to take advantage of ozonetherapy when the best orthodox-treatment fails; as an example why patients with either hide-limb ishemia (III-IV grade) facing amputation or chronic hepatitis patients, who do not tolerate IFN, should not try autohemotherapy?