Intravesical Ozone Therapy for Progressive Radiation-Induced Hematuria

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 microg/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 radiation-induced side-effect.