02 Case studies in cancer

Abstract: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a major and very common disabling condition in cancer patients. Treatment options do exist but have limited therapeutic effects. Mistletoe extracts are widely-used complementary cancer treatments whose possible impact on CRF has not been investigated in detail. A 36-year-old Swedish woman with a 10-year history of recurrent breast cancer, suffering from severe CRF, started complementary cancer treatment with mistletoe extracts. Over two and a half years a correspondence was observed between the intensity of mistletoe therapy and the fatigue. Mistletoe extracts seemed to have a beneficial, dose-dependent effect on CRF. Although such effect has also been noted in clinical studies, it has never been the subject of detailed investigation. More research should clarify these observations.

Citation: Wode, K., Schneider, T., Lundberg, I., & Kienle, G. S. (2009). Mistletoe treatment in cancer-related fatigue: A case report. Cases Journal, 2(1), 77. https://doi.org/10.1186/1757-1626-2-77