Volume 23, Issue 1, February 2015, Pages 90–99
Botanicals: An alternative remedy to radiotherapy-induced dysuria
Highlights
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- Diverse approaches for different classes of dysuria in Iranian Traditional Medicine are reviewed.
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- Herbal remedies advised for dysuria in the base of urethral dryness and bladder spasm are reviewed.
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- Pathophysiology of radiotherapy-induced dysuria is reviewed.
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- Probable appropriate medicinal herbs for radiotherapy-induced dysuria and their active phytoconstituents are presented.
Summary
Everyday,
many patients get radiotherapy for prostatic, rectal, uterine cervix
and other pelvic organs cancer. Dysuria is common in pelvic, especially
prostate radiotherapy, but there is not any established and confirmed
treatment for this therapeutic side effect. Therefore, an alternative
therapeutic method, using herbal preparation, may be an effective
solution. This study seeks a defensible suggestion in Iranian
Traditional Medicine (ITM).
In ITM, a few medicinal herbs such as Plantago psyllium, Cydonia oblonga, Portulaca oleracea and some species of Malvaceae and Cucurbitaceae
family are indicated in treating dysuria secondary to urethral
moisturizing layer defect and inflammatory disorders. Most of these
herbs have mucilaginous characteristics and tissue regeneration ability.
This choice can be an appropriate one for radiotherapy-induced dysuria
as it is produced by a similar pathophysiology with bladder cell layer
injury and urethritis. Pharmacological properties such as anti-oxidant,
anti-inflammatory, and anti-ulcerogenic activity of the offered herbs
make its use justifiable. In lack of sufficient clinical trials to
clarify the clinical outcome, further clinical investigation seems to be
necessary.
Keywords
- Botanicals;
- Radiotherapy;
- Dysuria;
- Prostate cancer;
- Iranian traditional medicine;
- Herbal remedies
- Corresponding author. Tel.:
+98 2166482609; fax: +98 2166482609.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
