Nature’s remedy for Mucositis: Good ol’ pure natural honey

 Posted by Brian Lawenda M.D. at 5:58 pm
Sep 022011
 

Mucositis is one of the most painful side effects of cancer treatment. It affects approximately 40% of patients who receive standard-doses of chemotherapy and 60-90% of patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation for head and neck cancers.  It can develop at any point during treatment and tends to progress as treatment continues. Signs of mucositis range from mucosal redness to mucosal sloughing, ulceration, and bleeding.  If not well-controlled, mucositis pain can make eating and swallowing very difficult, leading to weight loss and dehydration. Additionally, breakdown of the the protective mucous membrane barrier can permit increased colonization and eventual infection by oral yeast/fungi (“thrush”), a condition that requires anti-fungal drug therapy to treat.

One of the most effective therapies to help reduce the severity and pain of mucositis comes from the good ol’ honey bee: pure natural honey.

The viscous nature of honey makes it a great protective barrier that coats the delicate mucous membranes of the mouth and throat. It is inexpensive and has no side effects. Honey also has natural bactericidal properties that help protect against increased colonization by bacteria and fungal organisms.

Here’s a great link to an article on “Honey in Medicine“

Data:

One of the best studies that examined the efficacy of honey for reducing mucositis, randomized 40 head and neck cancer patients to prophylactic treatment with or without the use of topical pure natural honey during their radiation and chemotherapy. The researchers demonstrated a large reduction in the risk of developing moderate-to-severe (grades 3 & 4) mucositis among those using honey (15%) compared to those not using honey (65%). Furthermore, honey use was also significantly correlated with a much lower risk of yeast (candida) colonization (15% vs. 60%) and bacterial colonization (15% vs. 65%).

The Bottomline:

For patients who are at risk of developing mucositis (mouth/throat), definitely keep this natural remedy in mind as one of the first things you try. If honey is not effective for you, your cancer care team can provide you with many other therapeutic options.

I provide some helpful links on mucostis treatments here.

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Reduce skin fibrosis & possibly breast implant contracture after radiation therapy: vitamin E & pentoxifylline

 Posted by Brian Lawenda M.D. at 5:40 pm
Aug 012011
 
Reduce skin fibrosis & possibly breast implant contracture after radiation therapy: vitamin E & pentoxifylline

Most patients typically develop only minimal skin fibrosis after their radiation therapy, however for those who have a more significant degree of fibrosis I often recommend a combination of vitamin E (400 I.U, twice a day) and pentoxifylline (400 mg, three times each day). Fibrosis can develop months-to-years after radiation therapy to any region of the body, but is most common in the extremities, breasts (read more about implant contracture, below) and head and neck where higher radiation doses are often required on or just below the skin surface. How does this treatment work? It is not entirely clear how [...read more...]

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Basal & squamous skin cancers cured without surgery: 100+ years of experience using this non-surgical treatment

 Posted by Brian Lawenda M.D. at 6:46 pm
Jul 062011
 
Basal & squamous skin cancers cured without surgery: 100+ years of experience using this non-surgical treatment

Did you know that radiation therapy is the most highly-effective, non-surgical treatment option for basal and squamous cell skin cancer?  Radiation therapy has been used for the treatment of skin cancers since the early 1900′s and continues to be one of the best therapies available. Significant advances have revolutionized radiation therapy technologies, increasing treatment precision and reducing side effects. Although surgery is a very effective treatment, there are occasional risks: impaired wound healing (particularly in those with diabetes, the elderly, peripheral vascular disease, smokers) post-operative bleeding post-operative wound infections surgical scars functional and/or cosmetic deformities (in some circumstances skin grafts/flaps [...read more...]

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Taking probiotics before and during pelvic radiation therapy may reduce diarrhea

 Posted by Brian Lawenda M.D. at 12:59 pm
Apr 052011
 
Taking probiotics before and during pelvic radiation therapy may reduce diarrhea

Diarrhea is a common side-effect of pelvic and abdominal radiation therapy. In a fascinating study, published in 2010, researchers reported that taking a probiotic supplement before and during radiation therapy for cervical cancer significantly reduced the incidence of moderate (grade 2) and severe diarrhea (grade 3) compared with patients who received a placebo; grade 2 and 3 diarrhea (45% in the placebo group versus 9% in the probiotic group). These beneficial results were supported by the reduction in the use of anti-diarrheal medications among the patients taking the probiotic supplement (9% used anti-diarrheals) versus the placebo (32% used anti-diarrheals). Read [...read more...]

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Lung cancer eradicated in 98% of patients with a rapid, 3 to 5-day course of radiation therapy: A new paradigm in the management of early stage lung cancer.

 Posted by Brian Lawenda M.D. at 5:44 pm
Dec 102010
 
Lung cancer eradicated in 98% of patients with a rapid, 3 to 5-day course of radiation therapy: A new paradigm in the management of early stage lung cancer.

A recently reported study (in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 2010) demonstrated the remarkable effectiveness of the latest radiation therapy technique (called “stereotactic body radiation therapy” or “SBRT”) in the treatment of early stage lung cancers (stage 1, T1-2N0M0, non-small cell carcinoma.) The study authors (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group), reported a 97.6% local tumor control rate, 3 years after a 3-day course of SBRT (3 doses of 20 Gy). These excellent results are comparable to those achievable by surgery, but SBRT has the advantage of being a non-invasive treatment. A course of SBRT frequently involves 3-5 daily doses of external beam radiation. [...read more...]

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A five-day, non-invasive treatment for prostate cancer (called “stereotactic body radiation therapy” or “SBRT”) is now available

 Posted by Brian Lawenda M.D. at 4:43 pm
Nov 242010
 
A five-day, non-invasive treatment for prostate cancer (called "stereotactic body radiation therapy" or "SBRT") is now available

Did you know that external radiation (when employed as 1st-line therapy for prostate cancer) is prescribed for 9-weeks of daily treatment?  There is a new shorter, non-invasive option that has recently become available…read on… Patients have many options available to them for managing prostate cancer (i.e. observation/watchful waiting, surgery, external beam radiation therapy, brachytherapy, cryosurgery, HIFU, hormonal therapy, etc.)  The most commonly selected non-invasive treatment option involves a highly-effective, 9-week external beam radiation treatment course. Although there have not been any randomized controlled trials that have compared surgery to radiation therapy for prostate cancer, most of the data suggest that both approaches [...read more...]

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Acupuncture reduces neck/shoulder pain and dry mouth after treatment for head & neck cancers

 Posted by Brian Lawenda M.D. at 10:11 am
May 202010
 
Acupuncture reduces neck/shoulder pain and dry mouth after treatment for head & neck cancers

In a study (published in May 2010, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology) investigators from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center studied the potential benefits of acupuncture in patients with cancers of the head & neck who had undergone lymph node surgery (neck dissection.)  Neck and shoulder pain is a common symptom (occuring 30-70% of the time) in patients who have undergone a neck dissection.  Because acupuncture has been shown in multiple studies to improve neck and shoulder pain from non-surgical causes, the study authors designed a study to examine if it could be used in treating post-surgical pain in these patients. [...read more...]

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