Clinical Safety of Combined Targeted and Viscum album L. Therapy in Oncological Patients

Clinical Safety of Combined Targeted and Viscum album L. Therapy in Oncological Patients
Studientyp	Multicenter observational study
Status	Abgeschlossen
Personen	Thronicke A, Oei SL, Merkle A, Matthes H, Schad F
Publikation(en)
Erkrankung	Krebserkrankungen
Population	Onkologische Patienten
Intervention	Viscum album L
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Abstract

Background

Despite improvement of tumor response rates, targeted therapy may induce toxicities in cancer patients. Recent studies indicate amelioration of adverse events (AEs) by add-on mistletoe (Viscum album L., VA) in standard oncological treatment. The primary objective of this multicenter observational study was to determine the safety profile of targeted and add-on VA therapy compared to targeted therapy alone.

Methods

Demographic and medical data were retrieved from the Network Oncology registry. Allocation to either control (targeted therapy) or combinational group (targeted/add-on VA) was performed. Safety-associated variables were evaluated by adjusted multivariable analyses.

Results

The median age of the study population (n = 310) at first diagnosis was 59 years; 67.4% were female. In total, 126 patients (40.6%) were in the control and 184 patients (59.4%) in the combination group. Significant differences were observed between both groups with respect to overall AE frequency (χ² = 4.1, p = 0.04) and to discontinuation of standard oncological treatment (χ² = 4.8, p = 0.03) with lower rates in the combinational group (20.1%, 35% respectively) compared to control (30.2%, 60.5%, respectively). Addition of VA to targeted therapy significantly reduced the probability of oncological treatment discontinuation by 70% (Odds ratio (OR) 0.30, p = 0.02).

Conclusions

Our results indicate a highly significant reduction of AE-induced treatment discontinuation in all-stage cancer patients when treated with VA in addition to targeted therapy.