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Mistletoe in the supportive care of cancer patients—Improvement of quality-of-life

2008; Elsevier BV; Volume: 1; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.eujim.2008.08.083

1876-3839

Mathias Brandenberger, Ana Paula Simões‐Wüst, Reinhard Saller, G. Salzwedel, Lukas Rist, Mac Ramos,

Plant tissue culture and regeneration

Mistletoe (Viscum album) preparations are often used in the adjuvant setting, together with standard chemo- or radiotherapy. Several clinical studies have shown that treatment with mistletoe preparations—often in combination with standard treatment—can improve the quality-of-life and even prolongs relapse-free intervals in cancer patients [1]. Furthermore, some patients can better stand aggressive chemotherapies if they receive mistletoe preparations at the same time. In the present clinical study, which was authorized by the ethical commission of the canton Zurich, questionnaires were used to characterise the alterations in the quality-of-life experienced by cancer patients during the treatment with mistletoe preparations. Furthermore, the patients were interviewed by the researchers to unveil their goals while accepting this therapy. A small (N=25) cohort of patients with different types of malignant diseases received subcutaneous applications of mistletoe preparations in the course of their treatment at the Paracelsus Hospital in Richterswil. All patients filled in the following questionnaires on quality-of-life at the beginning of the treatment: EORTC QLQ-C30 Version 3.0, SELT-M and HLQ Version 2.5. Approximately 3 months later, 21 of the 25 patients filled in the questionnaires a second time, to document the variation in the quality-of-life during this time period. The scores of the different questionnaires, as well as the differences between the scores at the two visits, were determined. The statistical analysis (merely descriptive) was performed with SAS 9.1. When the patients agreed, they were interviewed by the researchers. These interviews included questions on why the patients used the mistletoe therapy including objective and subjective reasons. Another goal of the interviews was to characterise the functional meaning of the mistletoe therapy within the context of the whole therapeutic concept and some questions attempted to find out how this meaning should be interpreted. Finally, the relevance of the mistletoe therapy with respect to the maintenance/improvement of the quality-of-life was approached. The evaluation of the questionnaires showed a tendency for an improvement of the patients' quality-of-life, which was revealed by all three types of questionnaires. The interviews' analysis indicated that the patients adopt the mistletoe therapy with a supportive goal rather then as an anti-tumour therapy. Moreover, psychosocial considerations and ideal reasons do often play an immediate role.