Case Reports of Five Cancer Patients with Unusual Course

Our plain-English summary of Case Reports of Five Cancer Patients with Unusual Course, by D. Payrhuber, K. Thieves, P. Sangaletti, et al (Homeopathy, 2018).

The study

• Authors: D. Payrhuber, K. Thieves, P. Sangaletti, J. Muehlmann, M. Frass
• Journal: Homeopathy
• Published: 2018;107(4):280-291
• Type of article: Case report
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Introduction: The analysis of the periodic table of elements by Jan Scholten opened the way for a new kind of classification and repertorisation of homeopathic remedies. Thereby, group analysis (resorting to series and stages) makes precise prescriptions possible. This approach appears to yield striking results, even in severe cases. Whereas Hahnemann stressed the emotional state ('Gemüthssymptome', Organon § 210) when choosing a remedy, Scholten 200 years later investigated the mental picture that represents a life conflict or even a life theme that may maintain the disease process. The person's environment, emotional traumas or a conflict drives him or her to suppress and dissect painful emotions. Such compensations can become subconscious and so strong that they can no longer be controlled; they then influence the patient with a highly destructive energy.

Methods: We present five case reports, each dealing with an unusual clinical course of severe cancer associated with homeopathic treatment using the Scholten method.

Results: By presenting these cases, we consider how the constitution (lifelong signs and symptoms of the patient) and the mental state are interwoven and, as a complex mechanism, might provoke disease.

Conclusion: The appropriate homeopathic remedy, reflecting the Scholten approach, seemed to have beneficial impact on the disease process of the five individuals presented.

The Faculty of Homeopathy.

In plain English

This article presents five case reports of cancer patients whom the authors described as having an unusual course during homeopathic treatment chosen by the Scholten method. The cancers were hairy cell leukaemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, bone destruction after earlier breast and stomach cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, and stomach cancer. The mesothelioma patient was a 62-year-old man described as an industrial worker. The article does not mention asbestos. He first had pleurodesis with bleomycin. Five months after his first homeopathic consultation, bronchoscopy and X-ray showed no tumour in the respiratory system. Malignant pleural mesothelioma cells were later found in fluid around the heart, and a mesothelioma was later removed from the intestines. The article gives his survival as 4.8 years in one place and 5 years in another, and the authors wrote that a cure could not be completed in his case. The authors concluded that the remedies seemed to have a beneficial impact. They also stated that they do not doubt the superiority of conventional tumour treatment and that these were five selected cases.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Case series (five case reports) of cancer patients given homeopathic treatment
• Who was studied: Five cancer patients: a 53-year-old woman with hairy cell leukaemia, a 32-year-old woman with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a 72-year-old woman with bone destruction after breast and stomach cancer, a 62-year-old man with malignant pleural mesothelioma, and a 57-year-old man with stomach cancer. The place and dates of treatment are not given, and the dates were altered in three cases.
• Exposure: The article studies homeopathic remedies, not asbestos. No asbestos or fiber exposure is reported for the mesothelioma patient, who is described only as an industrial worker. He received Phosphorus, Bryonia, Scirrhinum, Carbo animalis and other remedies.
• Main results:
  • Mesothelioma patient: initial conventional treatment was pleurodesis with bleomycin.
  • Mesothelioma patient: at one point the clinical experts considered a bronchogenic cancer rather than a pleural mesothelioma.
  • Mesothelioma patient: five months after the first consultation, bronchoscopy and X-ray showed no tumour in the respiratory system.
  • Mesothelioma patient: later, 1 L of pericardial effusion (fluid around the heart) contained malignant pleural mesothelioma cells.
  • Mesothelioma patient: later still, a tumour with mesothelioma histology was removed from the proximal intestines.
  • Mesothelioma patient: the case summary gives survival as 4.8 years. Elsewhere the text says he survived 5 years in total.
  • Mesothelioma patient: the authors wrote that a cure could not be completed in this case.
  • Hairy cell leukaemia patient: in complete remission for 12 years after initial treatment, then died of heart failure. She had also received one cycle of chemotherapy.
  • Non-Hodgkin lymphoma patient: the tumour shrank from 10 cm to 3.4 cm within 4 months, then to 2.8 cm.
  • Patient with bone destruction after breast and stomach cancer: five years later, the osteolytic destructions were no longer detectable.
  • Stomach cancer patient: 10 months after starting homeopathy, a gastroscopy no longer showed malignancy.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the homeopathic remedy chosen by the Scholten approach seemed to have a beneficial impact on the disease process in the five patients presented.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that they do not doubt the superiority of conventional tumour treatment, and warned against reading the article as showing that homeopathy is a valid alternative cancer treatment.
  • The five cases were selected by the authors.
  • Dates were altered in three cases to protect privacy.
  • In the hairy cell leukaemia case, chemotherapy and homeopathy were combined, so it cannot be told which led to cure.

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