Does Ozone Therapy Cure Cancer?

Ozone therapy means putting ozone gas into the body. Sometimes blood is drawn, treated with ozone, and returned. Other routes are used too. Some clinics and websites promote it as a natural way to treat or cure cancer. The pitch usually rests on the idea that cancer cannot survive in an oxygen-rich, 'ozonated' body.

Ozone therapy is not an approved cancer treatment, and there is no solid evidence that it treats or cures cancer. The National Cancer Institute makes the general point plainly. For many alternative therapies, we do not know how safe they are or how well they work, and some can get in the way of standard treatment. The 'cancer hates oxygen' idea has not turned into an effective therapy.

Ozone is not just unproven. It can be harmful. In its own labeling rules, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that ozone is a toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy, and that inhaling it can irritate the lungs enough to cause fluid build-up. The FDA has also taken reports from people who used ozone devices at home and then had asthma attacks, headaches and breathlessness. No ozone device has been cleared by the FDA as safe and effective for these uses. Methods that involve drawing and returning blood, or putting gas into the body, carry their own risks of infection and injury.

On current evidence, ozone therapy is not a proven cancer treatment, and it can harm the lungs. The greatest danger is using it in place of treatment that works, or letting it delay that treatment. One large study found that people with early breast, lung or bowel cancer who chose alternative therapy instead of standard care were far more likely to die within five years. If you are thinking about any complementary approach, talk it over with your cancer care team first.

• Call 911 or go to an emergency department if you have chest pain, trouble breathing, coughing up blood, sudden severe shortness of breath, or you faint after ozone exposure or an infusion.
• Call your care team the same day if you have a temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher, or redness, swelling or pus where a needle or line went in. These can be signs of infection.
• Call your care team within a day or two if you have a new cough, wheeze or chest tightness after ozone treatment, or if you have delayed any part of your cancer treatment to try it.

• National Cancer Institute — Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) for Patients
• 21 CFR 801.415 — Maximum acceptable level of ozone (eCFR)
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Do You Need a Device That Claims to Clean a CPAP Machine? (ozone and UV products)
• National Cancer Institute — Use of Alternative Medicine for Cancer and Its Impact on Survival