Efectos biológicos del radón y la terapia térmica en la osteoartritis. (Inglés)

Kiyonori Yamaoka* * [MEDLINE LOOKUP] Fumihiro Mitsunobu† [MEDLINE LOOKUP] Katsumi Hanamoto* [MEDLINE LOOKUP] Shuji Mori‡ [MEDLINE LOOKUP] Yoshiro Tanizaki† [MEDLINE LOOKUP] Katsuhiko Sugita* [MEDLINE LOOKUP]
*Department of Medical Radioscience, Okayama University Medical School, Okayama, Japan †Misasa Medical Center, Okayama University Medical School, Tottori, Japan ‡Department of Pharmacology, Okayama University Medical School, Okayama, Japan *Address reprint requests to Kiyonori Yamaoka, Prof, MD, Chair of Medical Radioscience, Okayama University Medical School, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Okayama 700-8558, Japan; Email: yamaoka@md.okayama-u.ac.jp Submitted April 16, 2003. Revised August 25, 2003. Accepted on September 11, 2003. Copyright © 2004 by American Pain Society doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2003.09.005

Abstract TOP

Radon therapy uses radon (222Rn) gas, which mainly emits -rays and induces a small amount of active oxygen in the body. We first examined the temporal changes in antioxidants, immune, vasoactive, and pain-associated substances in human blood by therapy to elucidate the mechanism of osteoarthritis in which radon therapy is used as a treatment. Results showed that radon inhalation enhanced the antioxidation and immune function, and the findings suggest that radon therapy contributes to the prevention of osteoarthritis related to peroxidation reactions and immune depression. Moreover, the changes in vasoactive and pain-associated substances indicated increases in tissue perfusion brought about by radon therapy, suggesting that radon inhalation plays a role in alleviating pain.

Perspective The findings suggest that an appropriate amount of active oxygen is produced in the body after radon inhalation, and this contributes to the alleviation of the symptoms of active oxygen diseases such as osteoarthritis.