5

How is Ozone Therapy Applied?

Over the past sixty years, more than a dozen methods have been developed in the medically therapeutic application of ozone. Some have undergone extensive testing under clinical conditions and have been determined safe and effective by leading physicians and professional groups like the International Ozone Association and the International Scientific Committee of Ozone Therapy, while others have not. New methods are being introduced on a regular basis, including some that are considered highly experimental.

In most cases, tiny amounts of ozone are added to pure oxygen (consisting of 0.05 part of ozone to 99.95 parts of oxygen for internal use and 5 parts of ozone to 95 parts of oxygen for external applications). Doses are usually expressed in terms of micrograms of ozone per milliliter of oxygen (µg/ml). For example, if a physician were to require 1,200 micrograms of ozone, he or she would select a concentration of 12 µg/ml and use a volume of 100 ml of oxygen. Because medical uses usually call for exact amounts of ozone, only ozone generators that allow measurements of precise concentrations should be used.

The exact amount of ozone to be used is determined on a case-by-case basis, after a careful medical diagnosis by a practitioner with extensive training in ozone therapy. That is the main reason why only representative ozone (and hydrogen peroxide) protocols are included in this book, the goal of which is to educate the reader about these therapies rather than promote self-treatment. In addition, protocols can change over time, and the medical needs of each patient must be determined on an individual basis before an oxidative therapy is used. For a current listing of specific medical protocols for ozone therapy, consult the latest edition of Viebahn-Haensler’s The Use of Ozone in Medicine, chapter 9 (“The Clinical Applications of Ozone”) in Bocci’s Ozone: A New Medical Drug, and the latest edition of the Madrid Declaration on Ozone Therapy.

Over the years, some physicians have found that too much ozone can be immunosuppressive, while not enough can be ineffective. In an effort to discover the lowest possible dose of ozone needed to enhance immune activity, many researchers see microdosing as an important guideline in future therapeutic ozone applications.

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Figure 5.1. Portable medical ozone generator. (Photograph courtesy of Kastner Praxisbedarf GmbH-Medizintechnik, Rastatt, Germany.)

OZONE DELIVERY

At the present time, there are numerous methods of ozone therapy that are used in medical practice. Some are designed for very specific health problems, while others have more generalized applications. Some methods are considered extremely safe; the safety of others is questionable.

According to The Use of Ozone in Medicine, the most common recommended applications include the following:

Systemic Applications

Major autohemotherapy

Minor autohemotherapy

Rectal/vaginal insufflation

Topical Applications

Intra-articular injection

Ozone bagging

Ozonated ointments

Ozonated water as sprays

Suction cup method1

Let’s look at these and other applications in more detail.

Systemic Applications

Direct Intra-arterial Application

An oxygen-ozone mixture is slowly injected into an artery with a hypodermic syringe. This method has been used primarily for arterial circulatory disorders. However, this method has been abandoned by most physicians in favor of safer modalities. According to Gerard V. Sunnen, M.D., “Due to accidents produced by too rapid introduction of the gas mixture into the circulation, this technique is now rarely used.”2 It has been prohibited in Europe since 1984 to avoid the risk of gas embolism.

Rectal Insufflation

First pioneered by Payr and Aubourg in the 1930s, a mixture of ozone and oxygen is introduced through the rectum. In the past, it was believed that the ozone was absorbed into the body through the intestine. In fact, ozone reacts with the luminal content immediately and only some of the chemicals produced during the reaction are absorbed; this has been scientifically measured in both the portal and general circulation by Dr. Bocci and his colleagues.3 Used for a wide variety of health problems, including arterial circulatory disorders, general immunoactivation, adjuvant cancer therapy, and hepatitis A, B, and C,4 this method is considered one of the safest. Typically, between 100 and 800 ml of oxygen and ozone (for an average adult of normal body weight) is insufflated into the rectum, a process that takes between 1½ and 2 minutes.

Dr. Horst Kief believes that rectal insufflation is a valuable method of ozone-oxygen delivery due to several unique properties of the large intestine, especially its enormous surface of resorption, among these other properties:

Considering the anatomic, immunological, biochemical, and microbiological particularities of the intestinum, the use of medical ozone may reasonably be expected to provide decisive therapeutic consequences in rectal application and to yield successful clinical results.

Dr. Kief adds that the use of medical ozone in rectal application should do the following:

Rectal insufflation is considered a safe and simple method of ozone delivery that is particularly suited to the elderly (who often have difficult access to veins), to babies and young children, and to others who don’t like getting stuck with hypodermic syringes. While administered under medical supervision in Germany, Russia, and Cuba, a growing number of private individuals in the United States have used this method for self-treatment of cancer, HIV-related problems, heart and circulatory disorders, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases. It has also been found useful in treating localized health problems such as proctitis and colitis.

Whenever insufflation is used, the ozone-oxygen mixture must be humidified in order to prevent sensitive tissues from drying out.

Vaginal Insufflation/Urethral Insufflation

Vaginal insufflation is based on the wrong philosophy that ozone can be absorbed into the body through the vaginal wall, uterus, and fallopian tubes. In reality, oxygen and certain chemicals produced by the post-ozone reaction are absorbed. This method is considered safe and effective, and physicians have found not only that it can be useful for the same kinds of systemic diseases ordinarily treated by rectal insufflation, but also that the vaginal route can be used specifically to treat gynecological problems like yeast infections (such as candida) and uterine infections. This method is not recommended during pregnancy.

Using a silicone catheter, Cuban physicians apply oxygen-ozone to treat a variety of gynecological problems, including vulvovaginitis, vaginosis, and cervicitis. They report that the best results are obtained after the affected area is pretreated with ozonated water. Ozonated oil is also used after treatment to facilitate healing.6

Urethral insufflation is recommended primarily for treating bladder infections among men, but it may be useful in localized problems such as urethritis as well. In Cuban clinics a mixture of oxygen and ozone is administered via a fine-gauge silicone catheter. Treatment can be combined with ozonated water, which is also applied through a catheter.7

Ear Insufflation

Applying a mixture of oxygen and ozone through the ear is a recent but popular development in ozone therapy. This method is based on the idea that ozone is absorbed by the body through the tiny capillaries of the ear canal. Once again, this idea is wrong, and only some chemical compounds produced by a post-ozone reaction are absorbed into the ear canal.

Used only in a well-ventilated room (and preferably with a fan placed behind the patient to prevent inhalation of ozone), the generator is connected to a tube with a plastic catheter. The generator is turned on, and the catheter is placed gently into the ear. Some use a modified stethoscope to split the ozone flow so that both ears are treated at the same time. The gas is run at a slow flow rate through a glass humidifier, and it then interacts with the surface tissues of the eardrum. The chemical compounds produced by these interactions enter the middle ear and the inner ear and proceed down the eustachian tube into the sinuses, brain, and bloodstream. A typical treatment takes 1 to 2 minutes.

Typically, sick patients undergo three ear insufflation treatments a week, while others use it once or twice weekly for health maintenance. Although this method has not yet been clinically studied, doctors report that ear insufflation is helpful in treating ear infections, mastoiditis, tinnitus, sinusitis, head colds, hearing problems caused by candida, and more generalized symptoms of such conditions as Parkinson’s disease, influenza, bronchitis, and asthma. However, some physicians question whether a prolonged and repeated course of treatment is safe considering the delicacy of and low levels of antioxidants in these auricular structures.

Intramuscular Injection

A small amount of an ozone and oxygen mixture (up to 10 ml) is injected into the patient (usually in the buttocks) like a normal injection would be. This method is commonly used to treat allergies and inflammatory diseases, and it is sometimes used as an adjunct to traditional cancer therapies in Europe. However, it has been reported that ozone concentrations over 20 µg/ml in volumes exceeding 10 ml can be very painful and may produce feelings of faintness in some patients.

Minor Autohemotherapy

Used since the 1960s, minor autohemotherapy involves removing a small amount (usually 10 ml) of the patient’s blood from a vein with a hypodermic syringe. The blood is treated with ozone and oxygen and then returned to the patient via intramuscular injection. Thus the blood and ozone mixture becomes a type of autovaccine given to the patient that is derived from his or her own cells and can be very specific and effective in treating the patient’s health problem. This method is primarily used to treat acne, allergies, and furunculosis and as an adjunct to traditional cancer therapy.8

Major Autohemotherapy (MAHT)

Major autohemotherapy is perhaps the most popular form of generalized ozone therapy. A type of extracorporeal blood treatment (in which blood is taken from the body, treated, and reinfused), MAHT has been analyzed and evaluated under a wide variety of clinical conditions.

Major autohemotherapy typically calls for the removal of up to 250 ml of the patient’s blood. Ozone and oxygen are carefully added to the blood for several minutes, and then the ozonated blood is reintroduced into the vein in the form of an intravenous (IV) drip. Care must be taken on the introduction of the ozone-oxygen mixture to prevent bubbling, which causes foaming that damages blood cells and must be avoided.

Like rectal insufflation, MAHT has been found to activate red blood cell metabolism, increase ATP production and oxygen release, activate the immune system with the release of cytokines (such as interferon and interleukins), aid in immune system modulation, and increase the body’s antioxidant capacity.9 For these reasons, it has been used successfully to treat a wide variety of health problems, including herpes, arthritis, cancer, circulatory disorders, and HIV infection. It is probably the most commonly used type of ozone therapy today.

MAHT involves the following steps (see figure 5.2):

  1. One-half pint of blood is removed from the patient.
  2. Ozone is taken from the medical ozone generator.
  3. The ozone is allowed to mix with the blood. (This is done by simply rotating the bottle gently for a few minutes to mix the blood and gas phases.)
  4. The blood is then infused into the patient.

Body Ozone Exposure (BOEX): The Sauna Bag

Ozone pumped into a “sauna bag” is now being used to treat more generalized health problems, such as HIV infection, circulatory problems, and diabetes. Typically the patient takes a warm shower and gets into the bag, which covers the entire body except the head. A special closure is used to prevent the patient from breathing in the oxygen-ozone mixture. Pure oxygen mixed with small amounts of ozone is then pumped into the bag for a period of 20 to 30 minutes, making contact with all skin surfaces. The skin interacts with the ozone, and only the oxygen and ozone-reactive products are absorbed. According to Dr. Sunnen: “Surprisingly, the mixture is able to penetrate far enough into the capillary networks to raise blood oxygen pressure. Presumably, then, ozone is able to exert its biochemical influence.”10

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Figure 5.2. Major autohemotherapy, Cira Garcia Hospital, Havana. (Photographs by Nathaniel Altman.)

Body Ozone Exposure: The Steam Cabinet Method

Another BOEX delivery system calls for the patient to sit in a steam cabinet (see figure 5.3). In addition to steam, a mixture of oxygen and ozone is pumped into the cabinet through a tube from an ozone generator. Wet towels are placed around the patient’s neck and a ventilating fan is placed behind the head so that ozone is not breathed into the lungs. A session will normally last from 10 to 20 minutes, or until the patient feels uncomfortable from the heat. Like the sauna bag technique described above, the theory behind this method is that the ozone will react with the surface of the skin, and the oxygen and ozone-reactive products will be absorbed and eventually find their way into the bloodstream.

BOEX with a steam cabinet can easily be done at home with a minimum of technical skill, and many enjoy it as a spa treatment or in health maintenance programs. A growing number of physicians and patients have expressed enthusiasm for the steam cabinet method for treating a wide variety of health complaints, although more scientific research needs to be done. In addition, standardized protocols need to be developed for this relatively new form of ozone application.

While the method itself is considered very safe, ozone must not be inhaled, even in small amounts. For this reason, the steam cabinet must be sealed to prevent ozone leakage and the room in which treatment takes place must be adequately ventilated.

One of the few researchers to document the effects of BOEX is Dr. Velio Bocci, in his book Oxygen-Ozone Therapy: A Critical Evaluation. While acknowledging the problems mentioned above, Dr. Bocci cites several advantages of BOEX over other methods like MAHT: it is simple to perform, fairly inexpensive, and noninvasive (no puncturing of veins) and does not involve the handling of blood. He points out that BOEX can be potentially useful in treating a variety of health problems, such as viral diseases (including HIV and herpes), chronic fatigue syndrome, certain circulatory diseases at low temperature levels (such as hind limb ischemia due to atherosclerosis, Buerger’s disease, and diabetes), moderate burns, skin diseases, scleroderma, certain types of musculotendinous lesions in athletes, and advanced lipodystrophies, such as Madelung disease.

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Figure 5.3. Steam cabinet for BOEX. (Photograph courtesy of Ozone Services.)

As with other ozone therapies, Dr. Bocci recommends the “start low, go slow” protocols, with low initial concentrations of ozone to help the body adapt to chronic oxidative stress. He recommends a course of therapy every other day for several weeks at temperatures from 70 to 90°C for periods of 10 to 25 minutes for each treatment.11

Direct Intravenous Injection

This controversial method involves injecting a mixture of oxygen and ozone directly into a vein. This method has long been promoted by Ed “Mr. Oxygen™” McCabe in his publications and lectures, and he includes a protocol for the treatment in his popular book Flood Your Body with Oxygen. When determining how much ozone to use, McCabe writes:

I have always used the analogy of filling up the gas tank in your car. You pump the gas in and when it’s full, if you keep pumping it in the gas runs down the side of the car. The lungs are the oxygen overflow mechanism for the blood. When the bloodstream is full, the blood out-gasses into the lungs, and the oxygen-ozone sub species “run down” the inside of the lungs, causing rapid lung pollution detoxification, heat, and possible slight temporary edema. All the patient knows is that he or she can’t stop coughing if you do not quickly stop the procedure at the first sign of this.12

Although a number of health practitioners in the United States and Canada claim that this method is safe and effective, many physicians (especially those trained in Europe and Cuba) consider it dangerous and without clinical advantages over other ozone delivery methods.

In my own work as a journalist covering the subject of ozone therapy, I’ve come across stories of embolism, including one of a patient becoming comatose and another patient suffering respiratory arrest after direct IV treatment. Dr. Robert Atkins’s medical license was temporarily revoked after a patient went to the hospital complaining of adverse side effects from direct IV injection, which led the doctor to abandon it permanently.

Dr. Frank Shallenberger, perhaps the most respected ozone practitioner in the United States today, has treated thousands of patients with therapeutic ozone since 1985. After several negative experiences with direct IV injection early in his practice, he stopped using the method completely in favor of autohemotherapy. In his training manual for physicians who attend his workshops, Dr. Shallenberger offered six reasons why direct IV injection should not be used:

  1. Precise dosing is impossible, because the induction effects of ozone vary according to the volume amount of blood being treated. Since it is impossible to know with any precision what volume of blood is being treated in a direct IV application, it is impossible to maximize the treatment effect.
  2. Autopsy studies of dogs treated with the direct IV method have consistently demonstrated that the technique causes pulmonary embolisms. These embolisms are caused by the oxygen in the gas mixture, not the ozone.
  3. The embolisms associated with direct IV injection will induce bronchospasm, which in the case of patients with a history of either asthma or chronic lung disease may result in fatal acute respiratory failure.
  4. The treatment of many clinical conditions requires fairly large doses of ozone. While these doses are readily achieved using MAH [major autohemotherapy], they are extremely time-consuming using the direct IV method.
  5. The direct IV method is very uncomfortable to patients. The embolisms cause chest pain, coughing spasms, and tachycardia.
  6. Phlebitis at the injection site is a common side effect of this modality.13

Dr. Bocci has also spoken out strongly against direct IV injection. In a 1995 speech on the future of ozone therapy presented at the Twelfth World Congress of the International Ozone Association in Lille, France, he cautioned: “[The] use of the intravenous administration route is extremely dangerous, because even if the gaseous mixture of oxygen-ozone is administered very slowly with a pump, it frequently procures lung embolization and serious side effects, particularly when daily dosing is up to 120 ml.”14

In a 2005 communication, Dr. Bocci cited a number of fatalities in Italy resulting from subcutaneous (under the skin) ozone injections to treat lipodystrophy, commonly known as cellulite. Three deaths, from March 1998 to December 2002, caused the Italian Ministry of Health to prohibit the use of ozone therapy not only in all cosmetic and beauty centers but also in public hospitals.

Bocci adds bluntly:

I am always very emphatic in proscribing direct IV injection of the gas [oxygen-ozone] mixture: Unfortunately charlatans and technicians without medical qualification do this because they either are stupid or because they cannot do major AHT [autohemotherapy]. It has been well defined that a gas injection with a volume above 20 ml can produce a deadly embolism. Thus why risk harming the patient? Moreover, it does not matter that it is not ozone, but actually oxygen [that] kills the patients. Indeed the minute volume of ozone is immediately dissolved and disappears because of extreme reactive capacity.15

Dr. Bocci also points out that in the often-cited 1983 German survey on the safety of ozone applications (see chapter 2, note 3), the only adverse side effects were attributed to direct IV injection. Administering ozone through this method is considered medical malpractice in Europe and has been outlawed there since 1984.16

The International Scientific Committee of Ozone Therapy’s position on direct IV injection of ozone and oxygen was stated clearly in the Madrid Declaration on Ozone Therapy in 2015:

Its application is strongly discouraged due to the risk of air embolism which can occur even in the case of using a slow infusion pump and volumes of 20 ml. The complications of stroke range from a simple axillary bubbling sensation, then cough, a feeling of retrosternal weight, dizziness, to changes in vision (ambioplia), hypotensive crisis, with signs of cerebral ischemia (paresis of the members) and death. It is important to note that five patients died as a result of gas embolism after administration of ozone by direct intravenous injection. Furthermore, there is no justification to put the patient and the therapy at risk when there are methods that are safe, have been tested and are effective such as the major autohemotherapy, minor autohemotherapy and rectal insufflation.17

Ozone IV and Saline

First developed by researchers affiliated with the Russian Association of Ozonetherapy in Nizhny Novgorod, the intravenous IV method of using a liquid oxygen-ozone saline drip (as opposed to direct IV injection of ozone and oxygen) appears to be free of the dangers of embolism.18

Using an ozone generator, fill spout, and ozone destructor unit, oxygen and ozone are bubbled into a prescribed amount of saline (the Russians use 200 or 400 ml of sterile physiological 0.9 percent sodium chloride solution), the kind usually used in IV drips. The ozonated saline is then infused slowly into the patient through a vein, as a normal intravenous saline drip would be.

While Russian studies have found this method to be both safe and effective,19 similar research has not been done in the West. However, physicians who have used this method have reported good results with minimal adverse reactions. Some possible clinical applications for this ozone delivery method could include treating disease-causing microorganisms in the blood, as well as rheumatic diseases, inflammatory conditions, and degenerative diseases such as arteriosclerosis, diabetes, and cancer. According to Natalia Bernikova of Medozons Ltd. (a company formed by the Russian Association of Ozonetherapy and the Russian Federal Nuclear Center Arzamas-16):

Intravenous infusion of ozonated saline is still procedure No. 1 in Russia, being a priority of the Russian technology of ozone therapy and considered as a better systemic alternative to major autohaemotherapy and rectal insufflations. Nevertheless, the latter methods have been used in Russia as well, depending on the indication.20

However, this method is not without its critics. Dr. Bocci, who is one of them, writes, “Unless very low levels of ozonation are adopted, some formation of hypochloric acid, with time, will cause venous damage, possibly phlebitis” and could “possibly induce intravascular coagulation.” He also dismisses this method as more a placebo than a real treatment.21

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Figure 5.4. IV delivery system for ozonated saline. (Graphic courtesy of Ven-Mar Scientific.)

I also asked Dr. Renate Viebahn-Haensler her views on this subject. She replied:

As to the ozonization of saline I am of the same opinion as Prof. Bocci: we have measured the reaction products under different conditions and approaches. The results are not promising: we always got NaOCl [hypochloric acid] which is toxic to blood and blood vessels. So, there is no recommendation to treat saline or another solution containing physiological NaCl solution. I know there are Russian groups treating patients that way but with very, very low ozone concentrations.22

Extracorporeal Blood Circulation (EBOO)

EBOO is an experimental procedure developed by Velio Bocci and others in Italy. Its goal is to ozonate large amounts of blood in a single session (5 liters over a period of 30 to 45 minutes) using a method similar to kidney dialysis. However, Bocci is critical of the use of dialysis filters:

I condemn the use of dialysis filters because they are ineffective and toxic, and unfortunately Russians and other charlatans in Kenya, Malaysia, etc. use them. We need only to exchange gas and therefore we can use only appropriate hydrophobic gas exchangers coated with biocompatible compounds to prevent platelet activation. The system operates quite differently from dialysis because blood runs outside the ozone-resistant hollow-fiber tubings.23

By 2006, EBOO had been used on several dozen volunteers, mostly patients suffering from serious coronary disease. Most received fourteen treatments over a period of several weeks, with periodic follow-up treatments. Improvements were noted in all patients.

Dr. Bocci believes that EBOO can be potentially useful in patients with chronic, inoperable ischemic limbs (where amputation is the only alternative); severe coronary angiostenosis (narrowing of the blood vessels); chronic hepatitis C; acute cardiac ischemia; inoperative metastatic cancer; and severe lipodystrophies that are characterized by abnormalities in fatty tissue (which can be associated with total or partial loss of body fat), abnormalities of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, severe resistance to insulin, and immune system dysfunction.

However, disadvantages include the high costs of a disposable oxygenator and of training a highly qualified technician, possible deterioration of access to veins, and complications associated with the occasional need to insert a catheter into a central vein.24

In an article published in Redox Report: Communications in Free Radical Research, a team of researchers from the Nephrology and Dialysis Department at the University Hospital in Siena, Italy, praised EBOO for its ability to treat large amounts of blood more efficiently than major autohemotherapy: in one hour of extracorporeal circulation, up to 4,800 ml of heparinized blood can be treated without technical or clinical problems, whereas only 250 ml of blood can be treated with ozone by major autohemotherapy.

In addition to a configuring this method for use in hemodialysis, researchers saw great potential for EBOO in treating patients with severe peripheral arterial disease, coronary disease, cholesterol embolism, severe dyslipidemia (an abnormal amount of lipids—such as cholesterol and/or fat—in the blood), sudden deafness of vascular origin, and Madelung disease, a rare condition involving the presence of multiple symmetric, nonencapsulated masses of fatty tissue, usually in the neck and upper part of the trunk.25

By 2015, the International Scientific Committeee of Ozone Therapy considered EBOO to be an advanced variant of autohemotherapy. It is currently being used to treat a variety of serious health problems, including severe peripheral artery disease, coronary disease, cholesterol embolism, severe dyslipidemia, Madelung disease, ischemic stroke, chronic heart failure, and hepatitis C.26

Intraperitoneal Ozone

Another highly experimental yet promising method is administering oxygen and ozone into the peritoneum, a thin membrane that lines the abdominal and pelvic cavities and covers most abdominal viscera. Russian physicians have been washing out purulent material with ozonized water in treating peritonitis and pleural empyema for years with good results, and Dr. Bocci has explored the possibility of using this method to treat chronic viral hepatitis.27

Administering medication through the peritoneum is rare, but not unknown. A 2006 article in the New York Times highlighted how this method can help prolong the lives of ovarian cancer patients and reported that the National Cancer Institute took the unusual step of encouraging doctors to adopt this previously little-used abdominal treatment.28

In Cuba, intraperitoneal ozone is used primarily in patients suffering from peritonitis. Oxygen and ozone are applied as autohemotherapy via a catheter implanted into the peritoneal cavity. In addition, Cuban physicians deliver ozonated water via a catheter to cleanse the affected area. They consider this method to be safe because it avoids risk of embolism.29

A technique to administer intraperitoneal ozone was developed by Dr. Siegfried Schulz and others from various institutes and departments (Veterinary Services and Laboratory Animal Medicine; the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery; the Department of Pathology; the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology; and the Department of Pediatrics) at the Philipps-Universität of Marburg, Germany. Dr. Schulz and his colleagues believe that intraperitoneal ozone application can yield great benefits for patients suffering from cancer and severe bacterial diseases like sepsis and enterocolitis.30 By 2016, the use of intraperitoneal ozone was still in the experimental phase with animals, although washing of the abdominal cavity with ozonated saline solution during surgery for peritonitis has been successfully used on humans. Details of their research will be discussed in chapters 11 and 23.

Intratonsilar

In Cuba, oxygen-ozone injections are administered to patients diagnosed with tonsillitis. Between 1 and 5 ml of oxygen-ozone at a concentration of between 40 and 45 mg/L is injected into each tonsil. Four or five applications is the norm.31

Topical Applications

Ozonated Water

This method calls for ozone gas to be bubbled through water, which is then used externally to bathe wounds, burns, and slow-healing skin infections. It is also used as a disinfectant by dentists who perform dental surgery. In Russia, physicians are using ozonated water to irrigate body cavities during surgery. In both Russia and Cuba, ozonated water is used to treat a wide variety of intestinal and gynecological problems, including ulcerative colitis, duodenal ulcers, gastritis, diarrhea, and vulvovaginitis. Ozonated water can also be used for colonics or enemas.

Intra-articular Injection

In this method ozone gas is bubbled through water and the mixture is injected directly between the joints, primarily those of the knee and shoulder. Some feel that using water is not necessary because synovial fluid (a transparent viscid lubricating fluid secreted by a membrane of an articulation, bursa, or tendon sheath) contains plenty of water. And unless the water and the delivery system are sterile, they may also contaminate the gas.

Intra-articular injection is used primarily by physicians in Europe and Cuba to treat rheumatoid arthritis, knee arthrosis, rheumatism, traumatic knee disorders, and other joint diseases. A variation of this method, known as Prolozone therapy, was developed by Dr. Shallenberger. We’ll discuss this unique therapy in detail in chapter 14.

Ozone Bagging

This noninvasive method uses a special ozone-resistant plastic bag containing some water that is placed around the area to be treated. An ozone-oxygen mixture is pumped into the bag, and the oxygen and ozone-reactive products that result are absorbed into the body through the skin. Ozone bagging is primarily recommended for treating leg ulcers, gangrene, fungal infections, burns, and slow-healing wounds. Without water in the bag, ozone is practically ineffective. A normal treatment takes 10 to 20 minutes using approximately 80 to 100 microns of ozone. A photo of a patient receiving an ozone treatment with this method is found in figure 5.5.

Ozone Glass Cupping Funnel

Another form of transdermal ozone application is ozone cupping, which utilizes a small glass cup with a funnel attached to administer ozone to specific areas of the skin (see figure 5.6 below). The cupping funnel has an ozone destruct and an ozone line to introduce ozone into the funnel. The physician first applies a small amount of water to the skin, and then the glass cup is applied firmly to the area being treated. A mixture of oxygen and ozone is pumped into the cup, and the oxygen and ozone-reactive products penetrate the skin. This method has been found to be especially effective in treating poorly healing wounds, abrasions, skin infections, herpes, decubitus ulcers, fungal skin infections, burns, and radiodermatitis. A typical treatment involves a low flow of ozone administered for 10 to 15 minutes.

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Figure 5.5. The “ozone bagging” method. (Photograph by Nathaniel Altman.)

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Figure 5.6. Ozone cupping funnel. (Photograph by Nathaniel Altman.)

Ozonated Oils

Ozonated oil has been used to treat skin problems for over a century. Although not yet widely available in pharmacies, it became quite popular in Europe during the 1950s and is marketed by mail through a number of ozone suppliers in the United States and Canada (see the resources—appendix 2). Ozone gas is added to olive oil and applied as a balm or salve for long-term, low-dose exposure. Other bases (such as sunflower oil) for salves and creams have been developed in Cuba, where their effects have been extensively documented in hospitals and clinics.

Ozonated oil has been found to be useful in treating a wide variety of skin problems, including dermatitis, bacterial infections of the skin (including staphylococcal diseases such as cellulitis, impetigo, ecthyma, and scalded skin syndrome), fungal infections (including infections of the nail bed and athlete’s foot), fistulas, leg ulcers, bedsores, gingivitis, herpes simplex, hemorrhoids, vulvovaginitis, bee stings and insect bites, acne, furuncles and carbuncles, infections of the sweat glands (hidradenitis suppurativa), and yeast infections of the skin including candidiasis (caused by Candida albicans). It is also useful in the postsurgical treatment of wounds, and Cuban physicians are using capsules filled with ozonated oil to treat gastroduodenal ulcers, gastritis, giardiasis, and peptic ulcers.

Inhalation of Ozone?

Physicians who use medical ozone warn that inhaling ozone into the lungs can bring about alterations in the density of the lung tissue, damage delicate lung membranes, irritate the epithelium (the surface layer of mucus) in the trachea and bronchi, and lead to emphysema. They caution users that no ozone should escape into the room in which it is being used; properly designed medical ozone generators that avoid the accidental escape of ozone gas are becoming available for use. Dr. Stephen A. Levine, the coauthor of Antioxidant Adaptation, cautions people against using commercial air purifiers that generate small amounts of ozone to clean the air, since ozone should not be inhaled.

Having said this, it is important to point out that in Russia, tiny amounts of ozone are being added to oxygen for therapeutic inhalation in certain cases. This has been done with patients suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, and doctors have been impressed with the results. No adverse side effects were observed.32

Here in the United States, some physicians have begun to experiment with inhalation of ozone filtered through olive oil, because bubbling ozone and oxygen into olive oil produces a different gas (C10H18O3) that can be safely inhaled through the nostrils. We will see how this method is used in veterinary medicine in chapter 26.

Pure oxygen is used as the feed gas through a medical ozone generator. A low concentration of ozone is used at a flow rate of 0.25 to 0.5 liter per minute. A humidifier or nebulizer is filled half-full with extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil, and the oxygen-ozone gas is bubbled through the olive oil. The patient either inhales the vapors directly from the olive oil or inhales it through an oxygen mask or nasal cannula. A typical treatment takes approximately 20 minutes. Practitioners in both Europe and the United States report that this delivery system is both safe and effective for treating allergies, asthma, and other respiratory diseases. However, they warn that this method is never to be used without olive oil or at high ozone concentrations.

Autohomologous Immunotherapy (AHIT)

This controversial method of ozone therapy was developed by the German physician Horst Kief in the early 1980s. It is a patented new form of autohemotherapy currently used by a small number of physicians in Europe. AHIT is not approved for treatment in the United States.

In AHIT, the patient’s own blood and urine are taken to a laboratory and are broken down into their different cellular and fluid parts, known as fractions. Each fraction undergoes more than a dozen special biochemical and processing steps, including ozonation. These different fractions are then recombined according to the patient’s diagnosis and are administered as drops, injections, or inhalation fluids over a period of several months.

Dr. Kief and others have found AHIT to have a strong influence on the immune system. It causes a change in the immunological cell systems that aid in stimulating the body’s natural defense mechanisms. Unlike antibiotics and other medications, AHIT has produced no adverse side effects in literally thousands of applications. AHIT has been clinically shown to have a potent effect on a wide variety of diseases, including cancer, eczema, bronchial asthma, allergies, rheumatic joint diseases, chronic infections, and premature aging. It also holds promise for the treatment of other diseases like hepatitis, HIV-related problems, cirrhosis, and ulcerative colitis.33

Dr. Kief ’s method is not without its critics, even within the ozone community. In Oxygen-Ozone Therapy: A Critical Evaluation, Dr. Bocci questions the claims that AHIT can cure cancer and notes that the three cases he followed showed no improvement. Knowing that many cancer patients visit Dr. Kief when all other therapeutic methods have failed, Bocci writes, “My feeling is that once the disease has reached the point of no return, any therapy becomes practically useless.”34 He is also skeptical of findings that have never been reported in a peer-reviewed medical journal. However, in chapter 11, we will review some of Dr. Kief ’s clinical evidence showing that AHIT can help fight cancer, even at late stages of progression.

OZONE: EXACT MEASURE

Different therapies require very specific concentrations of ozone, and the ozone must be given in exact amounts. According to Dr. Bocci, “The ozone therapist must be aware of the dilemma that either too low or too high ozone doses can be either ineffective or toxic, respectively.”35

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Figure 5.7. Different applications of ozone; gamma stands for micrograms/ml. (Reproduced courtesy of Ozone Services.)

Some generators, like the German, Canadian, and Cuban machines referred to earlier in this chapter, are capable of generating ozone for all therapeutic applications, while others (especially inexpensive models designed primarily for treating tap water in the home) are not. This is why it is important to verify a generator’s capacity before purchase and to determine the exact ozone concentration produced by the generator for a specific therapeutic use. Figure 5.7 above illustrates the typical concentrations of ozone required for different therapeutic applications.

In part 2, we will examine how these different forms of ozone therapy (as well as therapeutic applications of hydrogen peroxide) have been used to successfully treat a wide range of specific health problems, both alone and as adjuncts to other forms of medical treatment.