Mistletoe Therapy

Questions about Mistletoe Treatment?

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Mistletoe: In-Depth

Mistletoe is an extremely cost effective intervention that has an excellent track record in a number of different cancers.

In 2001, an article was published looking at 10,226 cancer patients with 1668 patients treated with Iscador (a brand of injectable mistletoe) and 8475 who had taken neither Iscador nor any other mistletoe product (control patients). In a pool of 396 matched pairs, mean survival time in the Iscador groups was roughly 40% longer than in the control groups¹.

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Breast Cancer

A 2006 journal article re-analyzed previously published data of randomized and non-randomized studies on mistletoe therapy with breast cancer. In the non-randomised studies: Patients that had already received mistletoe (Iscador brand) therapy were compared to controls².

Mistletoe was evaluated in three groups:

Group 1: Breast cancer with local recurrences and no metastases (42 pairs)

Group 2: Breast cancer with only lymphatic metastases (55 pairs)

Group 3: Breast cancer with distant metastases (83 pairs)

Group 1: Hazard ratio - 0.52 – that is, the relative risk of dying was 48% less.

Group 2: Hazard ratio - 0.27 - that is, the relative risk of dying was 63% less.

Group 3: Hazard ratio 0.53 – that is, the relative risk of dying was 47% less.

The results demonstrate utility of Mistletoe in a range of breast cancer severities. 

Colon Cancer

In a 2003 randomized, controlled trial compared the post-surgery results for patients with colorectal cancer. 40 Stage III patients and 24 patients Stage IV patients who, beside surgery, received either only 5-FU chemotherapy for 6 cycles or 5-FU chemotherapy combined with Mistletoe (Isorel)⁴.

These 64 patients were randomly allocated into three groups:

Only chemotherapy: 21 patients

Chemo and Mistletoe: 29 patients

Surgery only (no chemo or mistletoe): 14 patients

After surgery patients treated with chemo and mistletoe had median survival significantly better than the patients receiving only postoperative chemotherapy.  

Questions about Mistletoe Treatment?

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Lung Cancer

Lung Cancer: In a 2013 clinical trial patients with advanced Lung Cancer were randomized to receive chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy plus Mistletoe (iscador – three times weekly) until tumour progression⁵.

Chemotherapy consisted of 21-day cycles of carboplatin combined with gemcitabine or pemetrexed.

Seventy-two patients (39 control and 33 Mistletoe) were enrolled in the study.

Most (65%) were in stage IV.

Median overall survival in both groups was 11 months.

Median time to progression was 4.8 months for the controls.

Median time to progression was 6 months in the Mistletoe arm

More control patients had chemotherapy dose reductions (44% versus 13%) and severe side-effects (41% versus 16%) and hospitalizations (54% versus 24%)

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Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer: A 2010 case report combining mistletoe with gemcitabine and oxaliplatin in metastatic pancreatic cancer showed showed no evidence of tumor progression 10 months after her initial surgery⁶. The authors suggest that the mistletoe was the reason for the unusually positive result. We often suggest co-administration of mistletoe with many chemotherapies to offset the depressed white blood counts. However a 2014 clinical trial suggests that Mistletoe can be used in pancreatic cancer patients after standard treatments have ended to improve quality of life.

220 patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer who were receiving no further treatment for pancreatic cancer were included in this trial. Data on quality of life and body weight were obtained from 96 patients treated with mistletoe and 72 control patients³. Those treated with mistletoe did better on all 6 functional scales and on 7 of 9 symptom scales, including pain, fatigue, appetite loss, body weight and insomnia The authors concluded mistletoe treatment significantly improves the quality of life in comparison supportive care alone and that mistletoe is an effective second-line treatment for this disease.

Our experience

We often use Helixor brand Mistletoe (as we have experienced stocking issues with Iscador brand Mistletoe) to augment immune status especially for our patients undergoing chemotherapy to reduce chemotherapy induced lymphopenia (low white blood cells).

Mistletoe helps maintain blood counts and has effects on survival and side effects as demonstrated in the trials on breast, colon, lung, pancreatic cancer we'e discussed. 

Mistletoe is easily administered at home. We teach our patients to self-administer.
It is well tolerated and usually results in a small area of redness to indicate a robust immune response. 

We also can give Mistletoe intravenously during IV Vitamin C infusions. 

Questions about Mistletoe?

Call Us 780-757-8378