Hydrogen Gas Shrinks Brain Tumors in Lung Cancer Patient
- Authors
- Ji-Bing Chen, Feng Mu, Tianyu Lu, Duanming Du, Ke-Cheng Xu
- Journal
- OncoTargets and Therapy
- Year
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.2147/OTT.S235195
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Breathing in hydrogen gas helped shrink brain tumors and reduce fluid buildup in the brain in a woman with advanced lung cancer after other treatments stopped working.
Key Finding
In this single patient case, hydrogen gas inhalation was associated with complete disappearance of brain metastases (tumors that spread to the brain) over one year of treatment, after standard cancer therapies had failed.
Summary
This report describes a single patient with lung cancer that had spread to the brain, bones, liver, and other organs. After standard cancer treatments stopped working, the patient inhaled hydrogen gas as a treatment. Over one year, the brain tumors completely disappeared and fluid buildup in the brain decreased significantly, though tumors in other parts of the body did not change much.
Practical Takeaway
While this case report is intriguing, it describes only one patient, so it cannot prove hydrogen gas works as a cancer treatment. Much larger and carefully controlled studies would be needed before hydrogen gas could be considered a reliable option for brain metastases. Anyone with advanced cancer should discuss all treatment options with their oncologist rather than relying on single case reports.
Abstract
Lung cancer is the most common type of tumor, prone to contralateral lung, bone and brain metastasis. We report a 44-year-old woman diagnosed with lung cancer with multiple metastases in November 2015. Oral targeted drugs were initiated after the removal of brain metastases, and most lesions remained stable for 28 months. In March 2018, intracranial multiple metastases, as well as hydrocephalus accumulation in the third ventricle and lateral ventricles, and metastases in bone, adrenal gland, liver were noted. Hydrogen-gas monotherapy was started to control the tumor a month later. After 4 months, the size of multiple brain tumors was reduced significantly, and the amount of hydrocephalus in the third ventricle and lateral ventricles reduced significantly. After 1 year, all brain tumors had disappeared, and there were no significant changes in metastases in the liver and lung. These data show that, after standard treatments had failed, hydrogen-gas monotherapy elicited significant effective control of tumors (especially those in the brain), and survival time was lengthened. Keywords: hydrogen gas, lung cancer, brain metastasis, extrapulmonary metastasis