Cancer and quality of life

This issue of Homeopathy features two papers from France looking at the motives of patients with cancer for seeking homeopathic care, and the possible clinical benefits of the homeopathy in terms of treatment compliance in women with early breast cancer.

Karine Danno and colleagues report an observational study including 644 patients with a range of primary tumours, studied over three years. Of these, 399 consulted 112 conventional general practitioners and 245 consulted 73 homeopathic general practitioners. The most frequent primary site was breast (30%); colorectal, prostate and genitourinary tumours were the next most frequent tumours in the study population. In line with other studies comparing patients who attend homeopathic family physicians with those who do not, those who attended homeopathic physicians were more likely to be female with higher educational attainment. They also tended to be younger and to have an executive or intellectual profession.

At inclusion all patients completed the standard European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30 (QLQ-C30) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaires. The homeopathic patients were more likely to be constipated; beyond this were no important differences at baseline. Their motives for consulting a homeopathic GP were ‘overall care’ and adverse effects of cancer treatment. Those consulting conventional GPs did so in order to receive psychological care and for additional information on oncologists' treatment decisions. Conventional GPs prescribed psychotropic drugs more than twice as frequently as homeopathic GPs (54% vs 22%). The most frequently prescribed homeopathic medicines were Ignatia amara, Nux vomica and Gelsemium sempervirens.

While this study tells us nothing about the outcomes of homeopathic treatment in patients with cancer, it provides useful data on the motives and demographics of patients with a cancer diagnosis seeking homeopathic treatment and about the prescribing of homeopathic doctors in this situation.[ ¹ ]

• References

• 1 Danno K., Colas A., Freyer G. et al. Motivations of patients seeking supportive care for cancer from physicians prescribing homeopathic or conventional medicines: results of an observational cross-sectional study. Homeopathy 2016; 105: 289-298.
• 2 Niravath P. Aromatase inhibitor-induced arthralgia: a review. Ann Oncol 2013; 24: 1-7.
• 3 Karp J.-C., Sanchez C., Guilbert P.W., Mina W., Demonceaux A., Curé H. Treatment with Ruta graveolens 5CH and Rhus toxicodendron 9CH may reduce joint pain and stiffness linked to aromatase inhibitors in women with early breast cancer: results of a pilot observational study. Homeopathy 2016; 105: 299-308.
• 4 Pathak S., Multani A.S., Banerji P., Banerji P. Ruta 6 selectively induces cell death in brain cancer cells but proliferation in normal peripheral blood lymphocytes: A novel treatment for human brain cancer. Int J Oncol 2003; 23: 975-982.
• 5 Frenkel M., Mishra B.M., Sen S. et al. Cytotoxic effects of ultra-diluted remedies on breast cancer cells. Int J Oncol 2010; 36: 395-403.
• 6 Wani K., Shah N., Prabhune A., Jadhav A., Ranjekar P., Kaul-Ghanekar R. Evaluating the anticancer activity and nanoparticulate nature of homeopathic preparations of Terminalia chebula. Homeopathy 2016; 105: 318-326.
• 7 Thompson E., Viksveen P., Barron S. A patient reported outcome measure in homeopathic clinical practice for long term conditions. Homeopathy 2016; 105: 309-317.