Article from Townsend Letter:
Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer with Intravenous Vitamin C
by Alan R Gaby, MD
68-year-old man with stage 4 metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma refused conventional treatment and opted for intravenous vitamin C in doses of 75 to 125 g two to three times a week. Prior to receiving vitamin C treatment, he was screened for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency and abnormal renal function, because high-dose vitamin C is contraindicated in patients with those conditions. He survived nearly four years, during which time he received more than 450 vitamin C infusions and had objective evidence of disease regression. His death was due to sepsis and organ failure from a bowel perforation.Article reference:
Drisko JA, Serrano OK, Spruce LR, Chen Q, Levine M. “Treatment of pancreatic cancer with intravenous vitamin C: a case report.” Anti-Cancer Drugs. 2018;29:373-379.Comments by Alan R Gaby, MD:
In the 1970s, Linus Pauling and Ewan Cameron reported that daily administration of 10 g per day of vitamin C increased mean survival time by more than five-fold in patients with terminal cancer. During long-term follow-up, 8 of 100 vitamin C-treated patients were still alive, with a mean survival time of 3.5 years.1 The study by Pauling and Cameron was not a randomized controlled trial, so its results were met with skepticism. Two subsequent randomized controlled trials conducted at the Mayo Clinic failed to demonstrate any beneficial effect of high-dose vitamin C.2,3 However, the Mayo Clinic studies had important flaws, including early discontinuation of vitamin C treatment and the likelihood that many patients in the placebo group were surreptitiously taking high-dose vitamin C.4 Consequently, the question of whether vitamin C is an effective treatment for cancer remained unresolved.Over the years, there have been sporadic case reports of dramatic responses to high-dose intravenous vitamin C. However, considering the large number of cancer patients that have received this treatment, such dramatic responses are probably uncommon. Nevertheless, vitamin C treatment appears to improve quality of life and may increase survival times. Further controlled trials are warranted to determine what role vitamin C has in the treatment of cancer.Footnotes for Comments:
1. Cameron E, Pauling L. Supplemental ascorbate in the supportive treatment of cancer: reevaluation of prolongation of survival times in terminal human cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 1978;75:4538-4542.
2. Creagan ET, et al. Failure of high-dose vitamin C (ascorbic acid) therapy to benefit patients with advanced cancer. N Engl J Med. 1979;301:687-690.
3. Moertel CG, et al. High-dose vitamin C versus placebo in the treatment of patients with advanced cancer who have had no prior chemotherapy. A randomized double-blind comparison. N Engl J Med. 1985;312:137-141.
4. Gaby AR. Cancer. In Nutritional Medicine, Second Edition. 2017, Concord, NH, www.doctorgaby.com, chapter 325.
Consult your doctor before using any of the treatments mentioned in this article.
Reprinted with permission from August/September 2018 Townsend Letter and Alan R Gaby, MD
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