These two papers published in 2018 review the existing literature and make a strong case for the use of intravenous vitamin C in cancer and sepsis patients. Both articles highlight the fact that IV vitamin C has been shown to be a safe intervention leading to improvement of symptoms.
Intravenous vitamin C in the supportive care of cancer patients: a review and rational approach.
Abstract
This article reviews intravenous vitamin C (IV C) in cancer care and offers a rational approach to enable medical oncologists and integrative practitioners to safely provide IV C combined with oral vitamin C to patients. The use of IV C is a safe supportive intervention to decrease inflammation in the patient and to improve symptoms related to antioxidant deficiency, disease processes, and side effects of standard cancer treatments. A proposed rationale, together with relevant clinical safety considerations for the application of IV C in oncologic supportive care, is provided.
PMID: 29719430 PMCID: PMC5927785
Vitamin C for the treatment of sepsis: The scientific rationale.
Abstract
Most vertebrates can synthesize vitamin C with synthesis increasing during stress. Humans, however, have lost the ability to synthesize vitamin C. Vitamin C is an important anti-oxidant and an enzyme cofactor for many important biological reactions. Sepsis results in the overwhelming production of reactive oxygen species with widespread endothelial, cellular and mitochondrial injury leading to progressive organ failure. Sepsis is associated with an acute deficiency of vitamin C. In experimental sepsis models, intravenous vitamin C reduces organ injury and improves survival. In addition, emerging evidence suggests that the combination of vitamin C, corticosteroids and thiamine may act synergistically to reverse sepsis induced organ dysfunction. These findings are supported by a recent observational study. Randomized controlled trials are underway to investigate this novel approach to the treatment of sepsis.
PMID: 29684467