A Randomized Study of Complementary Supportive Medicine With Aloe Arborescens Vs Aloe Plus Myrrh In Metastatic Solid Tumor Patients Who Did Not Respond To The Standard Anticancer Therapies

The recent advances in the clinical application of the complementary medicine to cancer therapy have shown that some plants may potentially exert an antitumor activity due to the action of specific antitumor molecules, rather than a simple palliative effects. Then, the aim of the complementary medicine would have to be not only the improvement of the quality of life, but also the increase in the survival time. Alone and Myrrh represent some of the potential antitumor plants. On these bases, a randomized study was planned with Aloe arborescens solution alone or with Aloe arborescens plus Myrrh solution (60 to 40%) in patients with metastatic solid tumours, which did not respond to the conventional anticancer therapies. Both agents were orally given at 10 ml twice/day. The study included 60 consecutive patients suffering from different solid tumour histotypes. Both therapies induced a disease control (DC) and the percentage of DC obtained in patients concomitant treated with Aloe plus Myrrh was significantly higher than that achieved in patients treated with Aloe alone. These preliminary results justify further clinical studies with potential antitumor plants to achieve a control of the neoplastic growth rather than a simple improvement in the clinical status of patients.