Long-term survival in patients with primary malignant brain tumors after postoperative home hydrogen inhalation: Three case reports

Table 1 Summary of case 3’s clinical course, including patient condition, magnetic-resonance-imaging detected tumor status, relevant treatments, and post-treatment outcomes

Date	Pre-treatment symptoms and MRI	Therapy	After treatment intervention
1998-02	Headache, dizziness. Brain left-sided space-occupying lesion	Tumor subtotal resection, radio/chemotherapy	Pathology: Confirmed as astrocytoma (WHO I-II)
2018-01	Headache recurrence. Left frontal lobe space-occupying lesion	Second tumor subtotal resection radio/chemotherapy	Pathology: Anaplastic oligoastrocytoma (WHO III)
2018-11	Headache deteriorated, recurrence of tumor at the left frontal lobe surgical margin, 31 mm × 27 mm	Oral temozolomide, and bevacizumab	Headache not improving, sudden right-sided limb paralysis, aphasia, and epileptic seizures
2019-02	Symptoms did not improve, the tumor increased to 45 mm × 27 mm, KPS score 40	The above treatment plus hydrogen inhalation at the rehabilitation center	Symptoms improved a 1 week later, seizures gradually stopping, walk restored, and aphasia improved
2019-11	No headache, MRI showed tumor shrinkage	Stop temozolomide and bevacizumab, hydrogen therapy alone	Symptoms continued to improve
2020-09	Further reduction of the tumor	H2 intervention alone	Symptoms continued to improve
2021-05	Further reduction of the tumor	H2 intervention only	Stable
2023-01	The tumor further shrinks, but fluid accumulation in the ventricles	H2 intervention, 3rd ventriculostomy was given	Stable
2024-07	The tumor is almost invisible on MRI	H2 intervention, at home only	Self-care, KPS score above 80
2025-07	Can take care of oneself in daily life	H2 intervention, at home only	KPS 80 points or above

WHO: World Health Organization; H₂: Hydrogen; KPS: Karnofsky Performance Status; MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging.