Abstract
Background: To the many profound changes we now face in health care, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) must be added as a major factor. There is evidence of the increasing use of CAM by patients diagnosed with cancer. Interest in CAM continues to grow at an exponential rate despite the advances made by conventional medicine. Given the increasing desire of cancer patients to use CAM, it is important that clinicians have a good understanding of the evidence available in this field and build a trust with their patients. Many oncologists are not familiar with CAM used by many of their patients.
Aims: To report the effectiveness and safety of a natural experimental agent used with conventional therapy in a patient with Stage IV Hodgkin’s lymphoma refractory to treatment.
Methods: An eight-years-old Saudi girl was diagnosed as Stage IV Hodgkin’s lymphoma with lung infiltration. The patient was started on chemotherapy (ABVD), and needed prolonged hospitalization due to weakness, loss of appetite, cachexia, dyspnea, cough, fever, and marked hepatosplenomegaly. She had six cycles of chemotherapy with a slight improvement in her general condition. However, she as considered refractory to conventional therapy. We were planning to refer her for bone marrow transplant. The patient was sent home to be readmitted for the seventh cycle of ABVD. Unfortunately, the patient’s general condition deteriorated and she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS). She was markedly unstable and required respiratory ventilation support. After discussions involving the parents, it was suggested to use an experimental natural remedy of proven efficacy in inducing apoptosis in tissue cultures and animals in our laboratories. On the fifth day in ICU, the patient was initiated with full dose ABVD combined with the natural remedy, classified as PM 701. Within 2 days, the patient became fully conscious, showed improved general condition and returned to the pediatric ward to continue her treatment.
Results: After the seventh cycle of chemotherapy and the use of natural remedy, her general condition improved markedly with significant reduction of the hepatosplenomegaly and pleural effusions. Repeated CT scans of chest and abdomen showed marked regression of her disease. She had one more cycle of chemotherapy combined with PM 701 and assessment after the eighth cycle showed complete remission of her disease including in the lungs. This natural agent has been fully studied with animal models at the King Fahed Medical Research Center’s laboratory and showed potent selective apoptosis of cancer cells, effective and safe in animal models.
Summary: Most childhood malignancy is curable with combined intensive conventional chemotherapy, however up to 30% may have relapse or be resistant to chemotherapy. We report in this case successful management with the combination of conventional therapy with experimental medicine (PM 701) in the treatment of refractory Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which needs further control studies in the future to prove the efficacy and safety to be used on oncology patients. Integration between chemotherapy and natural CAM should be under close supervision to ensure safety and effectiveness. Scientific research needs more effort to support this line of medicine.
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