Quality of life, immunomodulation and safety of adjuvant mistletoe treatment in patients with gastric carcinoma – a randomized, controlled pilot study

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Roman Huber¹  Byung-Sik Kim³  Jürgen Eisenbraun²  Jeong-Hwan Yook³  Kab-Choong Kim³ 

[1] Center for Complementary Medicine, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany;Abnoba GmbH, Pforzheim, Germany;Division of Stomach surgery, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan, Seoul, Korea

关键词: Viscum album;    5-FU;    QLQ-STO22;    EORTC QLQ-C30;    Qol;   

Others  :  1231953
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-12-172

 received in 2012-05-23, accepted in 2012-09-21,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Mistletoe (Viscum album L.) extracts are widely used in complementary cancer therapy. Aim of this study was to evaluate safety and efficacy of a standardized mistletoe extract (abnobaVISCUM® Quercus, aVQ) in patients with gastric cancer.

Patients and Methods

32 operated gastric cancer patients (stage Ib or II) who were waiting for oral chemotherapy with the 5-FU prodrug doxifluridine were randomized 1:1 to receive additional therapy with aVQ or no additional therapy. aVQ was injected subcutaneously three times per week from postoperative day 7 to week 24 in increasing doses. EORTC QLQ-C30 and -STO22 Quality of Life questionnaire, differential blood count, liver function tests, various cytokine levels (tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-2), CD 16⁺/CD56⁺ and CD 19⁺ lymphocytes were analyzed at baseline and 8, 16 and 24 weeks later.

Results

Global health status (p <0.01), leukocyte- and eosinophil counts (p ≤0.01) increased significantly in the treatment group compared to the control group. Diarrhea was less frequently reported (7% vs. 50%, p=0.014) in the intervention group. There was no significant treatment effect on levels of TNF-alpha, IL-2, CD16⁺/CD56⁺ and CD 19⁺ lymphocytes and liver function tests measured by ANOVA.

Conclusion

Additional treatment with aVQ is safe and was associated with improved QoL of gastric cancer patients. ClinicalTrials.Gov Registration number NCT01401075.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Kim et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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