After its discovery in the mid-nineteenth century, DMSO found a variety of medical uses from burns to cardiovascular disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn't approve DMSO for most of these uses, although many doctors prescribe it "off label" for various disorders. With over 900,000 Americans developing venous blood clots each year, according to the Mayo Clinic, some scientists hope DMSO will prove to be effective in preventing and treating this deadly condition.
Blood Clots
Blood clots are composed of fibrin protein and platelets, which are fragments of large bone marrow cells. Blood clotting is is an important process to keep you from bleeding to death when you have injured blood vessels or tissues. After the clot has done its work, your body dissolves it naturally. If something goes wrong with this process, the clot inside a vein or artery, called thrombosis, can restrict the flow of blood to the heart and lead to pain and swelling as blood pools behind the clot. A piece of the clot can even break off and travel to other organs and cause a heart attack, stroke or a pulmonary embolism in your lung.
DMSO Significance
DMSO stands for dimethylsulfoxide, a commercial solvent derived from trees as a by-product from the paper manufacturing industry. It's often used as a topical medicine since it's easily absorbed through your skin and promotes healing by increasing the blood supply to the area surrounding an injury. It also has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties to relieve pain and swelling. DMSO possesses antioxidant effects that trap harmful free radical hydroxide, possibly slowing the growth of cancer cells.
Scientific Evidence
Doctors often use a small tube called a stent to treat narrowed or weakened arteries in your body. But stents may cause a clot inside the blood vessel. Scientists in Switzerland published a study in the journal "Circulation" in October 2003 showing that DMSO prevented clot formation in stent patients by reducing the expression of tissue factor, a key protein that prompts blood to clot. A separate study by the same team, published in 2010 in "Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications," found that DMSO's clot-preventing properties were also due to an ability to inhibit platelet activation by reducing the effects of the inflammation-causing enzyme cox-1.
Considerations
DMSO is only approved by the FDA in prescription form for the treatment of interstitial cystitis. Topical DMSO is generally regarded as safe, although side effects may include a strong garlic taste in your mouth, dry skin, redness or itching, urine discoloration, low blood pressure and dizziness. Do not use DMSO if you are prone to blood clots or think you have a blood clot without consulting your doctor.
References
- American Society of Hematologists: Epidemiology of Venous Thromboembolism; J. Heit, M.D.; 2005
- American Society of Hematology: Blood Clots
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Dimethylsulfoxide; May 2011
- "Circulation"; Dimethyl Sulfoxide Inhibits Tissue Factor Expression, Thrombus Formation, and Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Activation; Giovanni G. Camici, et al.; September 2006
- "Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications"; DMSO Inhibits Human Platelet Activation Through Cyclooxygenase-1 Inhibition. A Novel Agent for Drug Eluting Stents?; L. Asmis, et al.; January 2010
