Volume 168, 20 June 2015, Pages 100–107
Traditional medicine use by cancer patients in Thailand
Abstract
Ethnobotanical relevance
Cancer
patients commonly use traditional medicines (TM) and in Thailand these
are popular for both self-medication and as prescribed by TM
practitioners, and are rarely monitored. A study was conducted at Wat
Khampramong, a Thai Buddhist temple herbal medicine hospice, to document
some of these practices as well as the hospice regime.
Materials and methods
Cancer patients (n=286)
were surveyed shortly after admission as to which TMs they had
previously taken and perceptions of effects experienced. They were also
asked to describe their current symptoms. Treatment at the hospice is
built upon an 11-herb anti-cancer formula, yod-ya-mareng, prescribed for
all patients, and ideally, its effects would have been evaluated.
However other herbal medicines and holistic practices are integral to
the regime, so instead we attempted to assess the value of the patients׳
stay at the hospice by measuring any change in symptom burden, as they
perceived it. Surviving patients (n=270) were therefore asked to describe their symptoms again just before leaving.
Results
42%
of patients (120/286; 95% CI 36.4%, 47.8%) had used herbal medicines
before their arrival, with 31.7% (38/120; 95% CI 24%, 40.4%) using
several at once. Mixed effects were reported for these products. After
taking the herbal regime at Khampramong, 77% (208/270 95% CI; 71.7%,
81.7%) reported benefit, and a comparison of the incidence of the most
common (pain, dyspepsia, abdominal or visceral pain, insomnia, fatigue)
showed statistical significance (χ2 57.1, df 7, p<0.001).
Conclusions
A
wide range of TMs is taken by cancer patients in Thailand and
considered to provide more benefit than harm, and this perception
extends to the temple regime. Patients reported a significant reduction
in symptoms after staying at Khampramong, indicating an improvement in
quality of life, the aim of hospices everywhere. Based on this evidence,
it is not possible to justify the use of TM for cancer in general, but
this study suggests that further research is warranted. The uncontrolled
use of TMs, many of which are uncharacterised, raises concerns, and
this work also highlights the fact that validated, robust methods of
assessing holistic medical regimes are urgently needed.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Thai herbal medicine;
- Herbal cancer hospice;
- Arokhayasala;
- Khampramong;
- Yod-ya-mareng;
- Traditional medicine
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