What Researchers Did
Researchers looked back at treatment records for 25 patients with metastatic (stage IV) pancreatic cancer who received chemotherapy combined with a ketogenic diet, induced low blood sugar, heat therapy, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
What They Found
This retrospective observational study of 25 patients found a median overall survival of 15.8 months (95% CI, 10.5 to 21.1) and a median progression-free survival of 12.9 months (95% CI, 11.2 to 14.6), over a mean follow-up of 25.4 plus or minus 19.3 months. Age and gender had no effect on overall survival (p greater than 0.05 for all comparisons). The study did not report a comparison group treated with chemotherapy alone, so these survival numbers cannot be judged against a benchmark from this abstract.
Canadian Relevance
No direct Canadian connection identified.
Study Limitations
This was a small, retrospective, single-arm observational study of 25 patients with no control group treated by chemotherapy alone, so it cannot establish that the combined protocol, or HBOT within it, caused the survival outcomes observed.