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Fever Therapy With Intravenously Applied Mistletoe Extracts for Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Study

Marc Schläppi1, Christoph Ewald2, Jürgen Johannes Kuehn3

  • 11 Cantonal Hospital St Gallen, Switzerland.

Integrative Cancer Therapies
|July 9, 2016
PubMed
Abstract

Insights

Intravenously applied mistletoe preparations (IAMPs) frequently induce fever in cancer patients, with most side effects being mild and fever-related. This integrative oncology approach appears safe for inducing febrile reactions.

Area of Science:

  • Integrative Oncology
  • Complementary Cancer Therapies
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Spontaneous cancer remissions are sometimes linked to fever.
  • Mistletoe preparations (MPs) are used in integrative oncology to induce fever.
  • Intravenous administration of MPs (IAMPs) is an off-label use.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the frequency of fever induction by IAMPs.
  • To assess the safety of IAMPs in cancer patients.
  • To document adverse events associated with IAMPs.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of cancer patients treated with IAMPs in two anthroposophic hospitals.
  • Core temperature increase to ≥38.5°C within 24 hours post-IAMP was the primary outcome.
  • Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v4.0 was used for safety assessment.

Main Results:

  • 76% of 59 patients experienced a temperature increase to ≥38.5°C after at least one IAMP treatment.
  • The mean temperature increase was 1.5°C ± 0.8°C.
  • Adverse events were primarily fever-related (headache, joint pain, shivering); no CTCAE grade 3-5 events occurred. 0.6% of treatments had Grade 1 allergic reactions.

Conclusions:

  • IAMPs effectively induce febrile reactions in the majority of cancer patients.
  • IAMPs can be considered safe for inducing fever, with mostly mild, fever-related adverse events.
  • The study included patients with advanced and metastatic disease, indicating potential application in later-stage cancer care.
Keywords:
Viscum albumadverse eventsanthroposophic medicinesafety

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