A 39-year-old man with acute hemolytic crisis secondary to intravenous injection of hydrogen peroxide

The diagnosis of cancer or its recurrence is often emotionally devastating for patients and those close to them. People may have a great deal of difficulty accepting the diagnosis and may seek others' opinions about the best course of treatment. When a physician projects that there is no hope, or if a cure is no longer probable, the patient and those close to him or her may feel helpless and hopeless. Given the resultant psychologic turmoil, the patient may be led to try unproven methods. Such methods, often referred to as "cancer quackery," represent a person's attempt to reassert personal control in response to these feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Cancer quackery involves about $2 billion each year in the United States alone. One study demonstrated that approximately 39% of the pediatric outpatients studied had either tried, considered, or received recommendations for unproven methods of cancer treatment. Laetrile and faith healing were the most frequent methods used. One of the most recent of the unproven methods of cancer treatment that have been shown to cause life-threatening complications is IV injection of hydrogen peroxide. The scientific rationale behind this procedure is still unclear, but the side effects are clearly life threatening.