title: Large-scale Survey of the Impact of Complementary Medicine on Side-effects of Adjuvant Hormone Therapy in Patients with Breast Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present clinical investigation was performed to confirm the benefit of complementary medicine in patients with breast cancer undergoing adjuvant hormone therapy (HT).
  
  
  METHODS
  The patients (n=1561) were treated according to international guidelines. All patients suffered from arthralgia and mucosal dryness induced by the adjuvant HT. In order to reduce the side-effects, the patients were complementarily treated with a combination of sodium selenite, proteolytic plant enzymes (bromelaine and papain) and Lens culinaris lectin. On case report formulas, self assessment arthralgia and mucosal dryness were documented before and four weeks after complementary treatment. Validation was carried-out by scoring from 1 (no side-effects/optimal tolerability) to 6 (extreme side-effects/extremely poor tolerability). A total of 1,165 patients suffering from severe side-effects (symptom scores >3) were enrolled in this investigation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 62.6% of patients (729 out of 1,165) suffering from severe arthralgia and 71.7% of patients (520 out of 725) with severe mucosal dryness significantly benefited from complementary medicine. Mean scores of symptoms declined from 4.83 before treatment to 3.23 after four weeks of treatment for arthralgia and from 4.72 before treatment to 2.99 after four weeks of treatment for mucosal dryness, the primary aims of the present investigation. The reduction of side-effects of HT was statistically significant (p<0.001) after four weeks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This investigation confirms studies suggesting a benefit of complementary treatment with the combination of sodium selenite, proteolytic enzymes and L. culinaris lectin in patients with breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Naturopathy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany hans.beuth@uk-koeln.de.
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beuth
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biometrics, Medical University Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Berthold
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Medical Data Research, Duesseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: VAN Leendert
authors.affiliation: Institute for Naturopathy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Uhlenbruck
mesh_terms: D018771:Arthralgia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000379:methods; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D020249:Hormone Replacement Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D037102:Lectins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D018038:Sodium Selenite / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D037102:Lectins; D018038:Sodium Selenite
keywords: Breast cancer; adjuvant hormone therapy; complementary medicine; side-effects; tolerability