Abstract

INTEGRATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY PRACTICES: THE IMPACT OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN THE QUALITY-OF-LIFE OF ONCOLOGY PATIENTS

Flavia Caroline Rodrigues, Fernanda Oliveira Gaspari De Gaspi*

ABSTRACT

Cancer development is the result of a mutual influence among endogenous and environmental factors, the most evident of those being one’s dietary preferences.[1] Seeking for medicinal plants is now a quite widespread practice in popular medicine, and is considered to be a complementary therapy in the promotion of health[2] However, there is grave concern among researchers of medicinal plants and phytotherapy about the source of products since all processes – from the harvest and all the way through the extraction of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and its storage – are fundamental for the preservation of APIs and the safety of a given treatment. In this context, the goal of this literature review is to explore medicinal plants with the potential to act upon an oncology patient’s quality-of-life, while having minimal interactions. Across our research, we were able to perceive that even those phytotherapy medicines advocated by the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS, in the Portuguese acronym), were prone to interactions, since the enzymes were the same as the ones contained in chemotherapy, making the safe usage of this alternative method more difficult. However, two plants, Handroanthus impetiginosus and Uncaria tomentosa, were found to have minimal interactions, and possesses both healing and prophylactic potential, showing some promise for parallel usage with chemotherapy, perhaps minimizing this treatment’s side effects. It is concluded that administration of gel (U. tomentosa), or oral solution (H. impetiginosus), were satisfactory as prophylactics, and for the betterment of quality-of-life.

Keywords: Medicinal plants, herbs, quality-of-life, oncology patients.