Alternative-Remedy Death Called a Timely Warning FORT JACKSON, S.C.-Hydrazine sulfate, an alternative cancer therapy, has led to the death of 55-year-old man with squamous-cell carcinoma of the left maxillary sinus. According to Dr. Mark Hainer of the Moncrief Army Community Hospital here and colleagues, the patient refused conventional care and self-treated himself for four months with the agent, advertised on the Internet and elsewhere as a way to prevent cachexia and improve appetite. He died of fulminant hepatorenal failure two weeks after a bothersome rash led him to stop use of the substance (180 mg/day), they reported in the Dec. 5 Annals of Internal Medicine. Hydrazine is a rocket fuel with acknowledged hepatotoxicity. An autopsy limited to kidneys and liver showed kidney autolysis and submassive bridging necrosis. In an accompanying editorial, Drs. Martin Black and Hamid Hussain of Temple called the case study a "timely warning" about the hazards of readily available toxic agents on the Internet, pushed by groups that perceive conspiratorial, repressive forces at work within the cancer establishment. The Temple authors noted that well-conducted studies of hydrazine as an inhibitor of gluconeogenesis, which could affect cachexia, have been "ambivalent at best," and hydrazine is a "surprisingly controversial subject." Nevertheless, they viewed the South Carolina patient's reaction to hydrazine as much more the exception than the rule, particularly because other cancer patients have probably been taking the agent in high doses, and no other cases of fulminant hepatotoxicity have been reported. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.