Biomedical subjects

Marta Lloret

Publications and source records attributed to Marta Lloret.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Adjuvant Ozonetherapy in Advanced Head and Neck Tumors: A Comparative Study.

Advanced head and neck (H&N) tumors have a poor prognosis, and this is worsened by the occurrence of hypoxia and ischemia in the tumors. Ozonetherapy has proved useful in the treatment of ischemic syndromes, and several studies have described a potential increase of oxygenation in tissues and tumors. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the clinical effect of ozonetherapy in patients with advanced H&N cancer in the course of their scheduled radiotherapy. Over a period of 3 years, 19 patients with advanced H&N tumors who were undergoing treatment in our department with non-standard fractionated radiotherapy plus oral tegafur. A group of 12 patients was additionally treated with intravenous chemotherapy before and/or during radiotherapy. In the other group of seven patients, systemic ozonetherapy was administered twice weekly during radiotherapy. The ozonetherapy group was older (64 versus 54 years old, P = 0.006), with a higher percentage of lymph node involvement (71% versus 8%, P = 0.019) and with a trend to more unfavorable tumor stage (57% versus 8% IVb + IVc stages, P = 0.073). However, there was no significant difference in overall survival between the chemotherapy (median 6 months) and ozonetherapy (8 months) groups. Although these results have to be viewed with caution because of the limited number of patients, they suggest that ozonetherapy could have had some positive effect during the treatment of our patients with advanced H&N tumors. The adjuvant administration of ozonetherapy during the chemo-radiotherapy for these tumors merits further research.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Ozone Therapy for Tumor Oxygenation: a Pilot Study.

Tumor hypoxia is an adverse factor for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Ozone therapy is a non-conventional form of medicine that has been used successfully in the treatment of ischemic disorders. This prospective study was designed to assess the effect of ozone therapy on tumor oxygenation. Eighteen subjects were recruited for the study. Systemic ozone therapy was administered by autohemotransfusion on three alternate days over one week. Tumor oxygenation levels were measured using polarographic needle probes before and after the first and the third ozone therapy session. Overall, no statistically significant change was observed in the tumor oxygenation in the 18 patients. However, a significant decrease was observed in hypoxic values </=10 and </=5 mmHg of pO(2). When individually assessed, a significant and inverse non-linear correlation was observed between increase in oxygenation and the initial tumor pO(2) values at each measuring time-point, thus indicating that the more poorly-oxygenated tumors benefited most (rho = -0.725; P = 0.001). Additionally, the effect of ozone therapy was found to be lower in patients with higher hemoglobin concentrations (rho = -0.531; P < 0.034). Despite being administered over a very short period, ozone therapy improved oxygenation in the most hypoxic tumors. Ozone therapy as adjuvant in chemo-radiotherapy warrants further research.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Influence of haemoglobin concentration and peripheral muscle pO2 on tumour oxygenation in advanced head and neck tumours.

Haemoglobin concentrations and tumour-pO(2) were evaluated pre-therapy in 30 patients with head and neck cancers. Anterior tibialis muscle-pO(2) was additionally measured in 16 of these patients. Tumour-pO(2) was lower in the most anaemic patients (P=0.032) and correlated with muscle-pO(2) (r=0.809, P<0.001). These results suggest that haemoglobin concentration influences tumour-oxygenation.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Effect of ozone therapy on muscle oxygenation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Ozone therapy is being used to treat ischemic disorders. However, the underlying mechanisms for the success are unknown and the therapy has not been accepted fully within conventional medicine. This study sought to assess the effect of ozone therapy on resting muscle oxygenation. PATIENTS AND DESIGN: Twenty-three (23) patients and 3 volunteers were recruited for this prospective study. Systemic ozone therapy was administered by autohemotransfusion on three alternate days over 1 week. Tissue oxygenation (mmHg) was directly measured in the tibialis anterior muscle using polarographic needle electrodes before and after the first and the third ozone therapy session. RESULTS: Globally, the differences in oxygenation were not statistically significant but there was a significant decrease in the percentage of low-oxygenated values (pO(2) < 5 mmHg) following ozone sessions (p < 0.02). The change in muscle oxygenation following ozone therapy was inversely correlated with age (r = -0.398; p = 0.044) and with the initial (baseline pretherapy) muscle oxygenation values (r = -0.644; p < 0.001), indicating that the more poorly oxygenated muscles benefited most from the therapy. A significant (p = 0.031) higher oxygenation in these tissues was observed 48 hours after the second session. CONCLUSIONS: Ozone therapy can modify oxygenation in resting muscles, particularly of those that are most hypoxic. Our results suggest that ozone therapy could be used effectively as a complementary treatment of hypoxic and ischemic syndromes and that the therapy warrants further investigation for possible application in other clinical conditions.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Increased locoregional blood flow in brain tumors after cervical spinal cord stimulation.

OBJECT: Patients with high-grade gliomas have poor prognoses following standard treatment. Generally, malignant brain tumors have a decreased blood flow that results in increased resistance to radiation and reduced delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and oxygen. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) on locoregional blood flow in high-grade tumors in the brain. METHODS: Fifteen patients (11 with Grade III and four with Grade IV brain tumors) had SCS devices inserted prior to scheduled radiotherapy. Both before and after SCS, the patients underwent the following procedures: 1) single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) scanning; 2) middle cerebral artery (MCA) blood flow velocity measurements (centimeters/second) with the aid of transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography; and 3) common carotid artery (CCA) blood flow volume quantification (milliliters/minute) based on time-domain processing by using color Doppler ultrasonography. The indices demonstrated on SPECT scanning before SCS were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in tumor sites compared with those in peritumoral sites (32%) and healthy contralateral areas (41%). Poststimulation results revealed the following: 1) a mean increase of 15% in tumor blood flow in 75% of patients (p = 0.033), as demonstrated on SPECT scanning: 2) a mean increase of greater than 18% in systolic and diastolic blood flow velocities in both tumorous and healthy MCAs in all but one patient (p < 0.002), as exhibited on TCD ultrasonography; and 3) a mean increase of greater than 60% in blood flow volume in tumorous and healthy CCAs in all patients (p < 0.013), as revealed on color Doppler ultrasonography studies. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary data show that SCS can modify locoregional blood flow in high-grade malignant tumors in the brain, thus indicating that SCS could be used to improve blood flow, oxygenation, and drug delivery to such tumors and could be a useful adjuvant in chemoradiotherapy.

Adult↗