Phytotherapy known and applied by head-neck cancer patients and medical students to treat oral discomfort in Germany: an observational study

Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology · 4 authors, 3 centres

AI SUMMARY

FIDELITY 100%

This summary was generated by AI from a single paper. It has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not clinical advice. Verify against the source before acting on it.

AGENT 01 · STRUCTURED SUMMARY

TRACE TO SOURCE

“

TL;DR

Full summary

1,203 CHARS

The authors screened German-language phytotherapy literature to identify plants most commonly recommended for oral discomfort and developed an anamnesis tool assessing knowledge and usage of 16 plants. A total of 120 head-neck cancer patients at a collaborating outpatient clinic and 168 medical students via an online survey were questioned in 2020. Students were additionally asked to record indications for plants used in daily life. Primary component analysis, heat-map analysis, network analysis, and VENN diagrams were used to visualize and compare knowledge and behavior. Students used significantly more plants in daily life than patients (p < 0.001), though both groups demonstrated similar knowledge and shared the same top five most commonly known plants. Network analysis revealed that students associated certain plants with corresponding symptom clusters. The study is limited by potential underestimation of plant knowledge due to regional naming differences, restriction to German-language sources, and a non-representative, single-center patient cohort. The authors note that their patient sample may overestimate general phytotherapy use in cancer patients compared to published rates.

STUDY TYPE

cross-sectional

SPECIALTY

oncology

SUMMARISED BY

AI pipeline

FIDELITY CHECK

100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10097744

Phytotherapy known and applied by head-neck cancer patients and medical students to treat oral discomfort in Germany: an observational study

Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology

READ THE FULL PAPER

ABSTRACT

Background Plant remedies are often used next to conventional standard of care by cancer patients. However, user rates are often underestimated and physicians usually feel not equipped to counsel patients. Hence, routinely recording the use of phytotherapy and sufficient knowledge on herbal medicine of the medical staff are required to improve the situation. Appraising the current state of knowledge of medical students may offer insight if education on herbals needs improvement. Here, we propose a simple anamnesis tool to assess knowledge and usage pattern of medical plants and demonstrate how to extrapolate symptom cluster participants associated with plants investigated in this study focussing on the common symptom of oral discomfort. Methods By screening German literature (popular science, specialist’s literature, books for the interested layman) on medical plants used for treating oral discomfort, we were able to deviate a list of plants most often recommended for treating oral discomfort and to develop an anamnesis tool to assess knowledge and usage of 16 different plants. A group of 120 head-neck cancer patients (under surveillance, after receiving treatment) and 168 medical students were questioned at a collaborating out-patient clinic and via an online survey, respectively, in 2020. Students were additionally asked to write down indications of the plants they used in daily life. Knowledge and usage pattern were compared between both groups. Primary component analysis and heat-map analysis were used to visualize common and distinguishing features. Network analysis and VENN diagrams were used to extrapolate data of the medical students’ cohort. Results Head-neck cancer patients and students show similar knowledge. However, students used significantly more plants in daily life than patients ( p < 0.001). Overall, the user rate of patients and students were 82.50 and 93.94%, respectively. The top five most commonly known plants were similar in both groups ( Marticaria recutita L. , Zingiber offinicale ROSCOE, Taraxacum Wigg. Calendula officinalis L. ) with the exception of Salvia officinalis L. (patients’ cohort) and Carum carvi/Cuminum cyminum L. (students’ cohort). Despite this slight difference, usage pattern of the top five most commonly used plants was the same between the groups. Students’ indications were compared to indications found in the literature, unmasking several differences between commonly practiced and written knowledge on German phytotherapy. Network analysis revealed, that students associated certain plants with corresponding symptom clusters (e.g., coughing, oral mucositis). Conclusion The majority of surveyed cancer patients as well as medical students use phytotherapy for treating oral discomfort. Both groups know and use similar plants. However, indications of written folk medicine differ from the lived and practiced tradition.

CITATION EXPORT

Maria-Louisa Ritschel, Jutta Hübner, Rebecca Wurm-Kuczera et al.. Phytotherapy known and applied by head-neck cancer patients and medical students to treat oral discomfort in Germany: an observational study. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-022-04200-0

AUTHORS

4 · 3 CENTRES

Maria-Louisa Ritschel, Jutta Hübner, Rebecca Wurm-Kuczera, Judith Büntzel

1grid.275559.90000 0000 8517 6224Klinik für Innere Medizin II, Hämatologie und Internistische Onkologie, Universitätsklinikum Jena, Jena, Germany
2grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Klinik für Hämatologie und Medizinische Onkologie, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
3grid.411984.10000 0001 0482 5331Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Medical Center, Robert-Koch-Str. 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany