Complementary treatment of breast cancer patients with OE improves the quality of life by reducing signs and symptoms of the disease and the side effects of adjuvant antineoplastic therapies. This epidemiological retrolective cohort analysis provides evidence that the patients may also gain benefit by a prolongation of the time to event for cancer recurrence, metastasis and survival. OE was generally well tolerated.
Patients (16 women and 16 men) with brain tumors previously treated conservatively by surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy with typical symptoms of increased intracranial pressure were consecutively enrolled to test the effects of pharmacological dosages of sodium selenite (selenase) in conjunction with other supportive therapies (biological response modifiers, detoxification, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, oxygen therapy). The rationale for the use of sodium selenite was that the whole-blood selenium levels were subnormal in 70% of the patients on admission. Patients also frequently presented abnormal levels of other minerals, especially lowered sodium and elevated potassium levels, which appears to be characteristic of brain tumor patients. Sodium selenite was administered by infusion at dosages of 1000 microg Se in physiological saline/d for 4-8 wk. In 76% of the patients, a definite, and in 24% a slight improvement of the general condition and a decrease in symptoms, such as nausea, emesis, headache, vertigo, unsteady gait, speech disorders, and Jacksonian seizures, were observed. In all treated patients, improvements of erythrocyte, hemoglobin, and thrombocyte counts were observed. Additional beneficial effects were noted in the patients receiving the oxygen therapy. It is concluded that the sodium selenite can be employed with oxygen therapy and other supportive measures in the management of brain tumor patients.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.