Vitamin C for palliative treatment:
Intravenous vitamin C has been used since the 1970's for terminally ill cancer patients claiming big increases in survival time. The efficacy of the drug is questioned and no randomized, controlled trial of Vitamin C's efficacy on cancer patients survival has been made.
Recent results from in vitro and xenograft studies in mice has shown some promise for vitamin c as a cytotoxic agent against cancer cells.
The following parameters are recorded for baseline:
* Biomarkers (PSA, bALP, NTX, PINP)
* Routine blood work (hgb, creatinine, p-vitamin c etc.)
* Radio nucleotide bone scintigraphy
* Prostate biopsies for later microarray (Affymetrix ST1.0)
* Urine samples 8-oxo-guanine(for oxidative DNA-damage measurements)
These parameters are repeated after treatment, usually after 12 to 26 weeks after the first vitamin c infusion.
