People with cancer often have to go through radition therapy that has extremely painful side effects. Oral mucositis is a terrible side effect of radiation therapy for head and neck cancer patients. The severe inflammation of the mouth can make further cancer treatments difficult.
Traumeel S is a combination homeopathic medicine which supposedly can reduce the severity of the inflammation of the mouth from chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Traumeel S is a liquid antiflamatory homeopathic drug that has been used in a couple homeopathic trials.
The first trial test Traumeel S had 32 participants. The trial compared the Traumeel S to a placebo. Patients with mucositis were given Traumeel S mouthwash and other were given a placebo mouthwash. The patients using Traumeel S had far less inflammation and better quality of life compared to the placebo group. Researchers concluded that Traumeel S demonstrated a superior ability to reduce side effects of mucositis compared to a placebo. Researchers reported no side effects with these drugs.
Due to the success of this first initial trial with Traumeel S, another larger trial was performed. This trial include 189 participants. All participants were children who were given radiation therapy. The trial gave some children a placebo based mouthwash and the Traumeel S mouthwash were given to the other children after radiation therapy. Traumeel S proved to be no better than a placebo in treating in treating mucositis. Traumeel S showed no side effects on the patients.
Traumeel S showed some promise in reducing inflammation after radiation therapy in a small trial. However, a larger Traumeel S trial proved to be no better than a placebo in treating inflammation.
More Traumeel S trials are being done so we will report those results as soon as we have them. Trials are being done to see if homeopathy can possibly reduce some side effects of cancer.
References
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota,. 2009 Randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial with 189 children.
Oberbaum et al., 2001 Randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial in 32 children.
