Intravesical ozone therapy for progressive radiation-induced hematuria

Abstract

Background: Progressive radiation-induced cystitis can become a serious clinical problem the therapeutic solution of which is limited and almost invariably aggressive. Ozone therapy is a nonconventional therapy that has been reported to offer benefits in late-onset wound healing and ischemic disorders. This report describes a patient with progressive radiation-induced hematuria from standard conservative treatment that was further treated with ozone therapy.

Method: Ozone therapy was achieved by intravesical instillation of ozonized bi-distilled water over a period of 30 minutes, three sessions per week during the first weeks. Later, ozone therapy sessions were decreased and involved ozonized water or direct intravesicular instillation of ozone at 20–25 µg/mL.

Results: Hematuria was successfully controlled by intravesical application of ozone therapy.

Conclusions: The successes achieved with this technique suggest that intravesicular instillation of ozonized bi-distilled water or ozone merits further investigation with a view to its application to counter this radiationinduced side-effect.