Abstract
Glioblastoma multiforme is a high grade malignant brain tumour with a poor prognosis. Here we report the case of a woman with glioblastoma who lived for over four years from diagnosis (median survival 12 months and 2% survival for three years), experiencing good quality of life for most of that time. She underwent initial debulking craniotomy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as well as having intravenous vitamin C infusions 2–3 times weekly over the four years from diagnosis. Her progress was monitored by blood tests, regular computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, clinical reviews and European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaires (EORTC QLQ C30). Our case report highlights the benefits of intravenous vitamin C as a supportive therapy for patients with glioblastoma.
Highlights
Glioblastoma multiforme is a high grade malignant brain tumour with a poor prognosis; median survival 12 months and 2% survive for three years [1,2]
We describe the case of a 55-year-old woman who responded much better than expected, with good quality of life for almost four years from diagnosis
Compared to the patient’s quality of life (QoL) data prior to commencing IV vitamin C treatment, dramatic improvement was reported in the three months survey following initiation of IV vitamin C treatment and the improvement was maintained for the first 12 months (Table 2)
Summary
Glioblastoma multiforme is a high grade malignant brain tumour with a poor prognosis; median survival 12 months and 2% survive for three years [1,2]. We describe the case of a 55-year-old woman who responded much better than expected, with good quality of life for almost four years from diagnosis. She chose to combine conventional treatments with intravenous (IV) vitamin C therapy. There are limited clinical trials on the use of IV vitamin C for people with cancer, the available evidence indicates it is safe and generally well tolerated when combined with standard cancer therapies [3,4,5]. A small trial of IV vitamin C in combination with standard therapy in glioblastoma patients indicated a trend towards enhanced median survival [6]. The IV vitamin C was well tolerated, quality of life improved markedly in the first year, and stabilised, and the patient had improved or stable blood tests throughout, including normal renal function
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