New research in the current issue of the Journal of Urololgy indicates that mistletoe extract could be an effective and safe postoperative therapy for preventing tumor recurrence in patients with superficial bladder cancer. The publication is the official journal of the American Urological Association.
Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has been shown to decrease tumor recurrence significantly after surgery for bladder cancer. But serious side effects and even deaths have occurred and so far an equally effective alternative has not been found.
According to the study, mistletoe extracts have been shown to act favorably on proteins that affect cancer and have been widely used for many years as alternative therapy in patients with malignancies.
The investigators said that current findings indicate that there is a place for the application of mistletoe extract in urological oncology, but they also called for further studies to determine the best dosage.
Summary of the study available here.
1. There's a hospital in Tijuana, Mexico that combines mistle toe extract with ozone and ultraviolet to treat bladder cancer, I have heard that they have great success.
Posted at 7:45PM on Jul 14th 2005 by Guillermo Moreno