Aim: The present clinical investigation was performed to evaluate the benefits of complementary medicine in prostate cancer patients undergoing hormone therapy (HT).
Patients and Methods: Patients (N=93) were treated according to international guidelines. All patients suffered from side-effects induced by the HT. To reduce the side-effects, the patients were complementarily treated with a combination of sodium selenite, proteolytic plant enzymes and Lens culinaris (Lc) lectin. On case report formulas (CRFs), self assessment of defined side-effects of HT (arthralgia, mucosal dryness, bone pain and hot flushes) were documented before (T-0) and on days 25 (T-1) and 50 (T-2) after complementary treatment. Validation was carried-out by scoring from 1 (no side-effects/optimal tolerability) to 6 (extreme side-effects/extremely bad tolerability), however, only patients suffering from severe side-effects (symptom scores >3) were enrolled in this investigation.
Results: The severity of side-effects of HT was reduced by complementary treatment with sodium selenite, proteolytic plant enzymes and Lc-lectin. The mean scores of side-effects declined for arthralgia from 4.72 (T-0) to 3.66 (T-1) to 2.76 (T-2), for mucosal dryness from 4.45 (T-0) to 3.65 (T-1) to 2.90 (T-2), for bone pain from 4.74 (T-0) to 3.44 (T-1) to 2.82 (T-2), for hot flushes from 4.97 (T-0) to 3.70 (T-1) to 3.15 (T-2). The reduced severity of the side-effects was statistically significant (p< 0.001) for T-1 and T-2, compared to T-0.
Conclusion: This investigation demonstrates benefits of indication-based complementary treatment with the combination of sodium selenite, proteolytic plant enzymes and Lc-lectin in prostate cancer patients, e.g. reduction of side-effects of HT.
Written by:
Beuth J, VAN Leendert R, Pempelfort K, Schneider B, Grund C, Engelmann U. Are you the author?
Institute for Naturopathy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Medical Data Research (MDR)-CRO, Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Biometrics, Medical University Hannover, Hannover, Germany; Urological Outdoor Practice, Cologne, Germany; Clinic of Urology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Reference: In Vivo. 2014 09-10;28(5):979-982.
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25189917