Cancer Treatment with the Alternative Herbal Medicine HUMA: Two Case Reports

Complementary and alternative medicine is popular among cancer patientsworldwide. among these, herbal medicines have a substantial place in cancer treatmentand palliation. cancer patients in the western world use complementary and alternativemedicine in conjunction with conventional care. however, the situation in a developingcountry such as india that has some highest cancer rates worldwide is alarming. lackof early screening and treatment facilities coupled with high cost of treatment oftencompels patients to seek alternative measures for treatment. we discuss two cancerpatients with advanced disease who tried an alternative poly herbal therapy (huma).this herbal formulation was derived from various important ayurvedic herbs viz.azadirachta indica, curcuma longa, embelica officinalis, ocimum sanctum, semecarpusanacardium, and tinospora cordifolia, among others. a male patient 59 years of agewith disseminated malignant disease of either pseudomyxoma peritonei or metastaticmucinous adenocarcinoma showed immense benefit by this therapy with completeregression of his malignancy. the patient completed five years of disease-free survivalafter cessation of therapy. the second case, a 33-year old male patient diagnosed withrectal carcinoma and multiple metastatic lesions in his liver underwent huma therapywith stabilization in his disease progression for an 11-month period. in this case,treatment with huma was helpful in palliative care. no adverse effects were notedin either patient.