[Fwd: Chinese Herbal Medicine- PC-SPES]

[Guest guest]

Nashua Natural Medicine wrote:

I

know this was already talked about in the past, but just found this on

med-line.

Sean

 

I highlighted

the side effects below, but I think they left impotence out of this list,

which I understood to occur in the majority of patients, as well.

 

 

 

 

Herbal Remedy PC-SPES Confirmed to Be Active Against Prostate

Cancer

WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Oct 6 - A report in the

October issue of

the Journal of Urology provides more evidence

that PC-SPES, a phytotherapeutic containing eight different

herbs, is

active against prostate cancer. The latest findings come

\from Dr.

Aaron E. Katz, of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center

in New York, and

colleagues. In efficacy studies involving 69 patients

with prostate

cancer, Dr. Katz and colleagues found that "the overwhelming

majority...experienced a decrease in serum PSA" after

taking three

320-mg capsules of PC-SPES daily. Two, 6 and 12 months

after treatment,

82%, 78% and 88% of patients had decreased serum PSA levels,

respectively. "Of 22 patients who received PC-SPES for

hormone

refractory prostate cancer, serum PSA decreased in 90%

at 2-month

follow-up and remained decreased at 6 months in 74%,"

Dr. Katz and

colleagues report. PC-SPES significantly lowered PSA levels

in patients

who had previously received no therapy as well as in those

treated with

radiotherapy, cryotherapy, radical prostatectomy and/or

hormone

therapy. The side effect profile was "comparable to

estrogen

treatment,"the authors report, with 42% of patients

reporting nipple

tenderness, 8% reporting gynecomastia and 7% reporting

hot flashes.

PC-SPES is one of the "more exciting herbal therapeutics

that are

currently being used to treat prostate cancer," the authors

write. "Our

observation that this agent has a clinical effect on patients

with

hormone-resistant prostate cancer suggests that estrogenlike

activity is

not its sole mechanism of action." J Urol 2000;164:1229-1234.

 

 

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Chinese Herbal Medicine