PC-SPES again

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Herb for Prostate Cancer Can Cause Bleeding

 

Patient took twice the recommended dose of PC-Spes

 

By Neil Sherman

HealthScoutNews Reporter

 

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 17 (HealthScoutNews) -- An over-the-counter dietary

supplement containing eight herbs, known by doctors to control

prostate cancer, also can cause excessive bleeding if you take too

much.

A 62-year-old man battling prostate cancer arrived at a Seattle

hospital with uncontrolled bleeding, doctors report in the Oct. 18

issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. He had been self-

medicating with a supplement called PC-Spes, taking 12 capsules

daily, double the recommended dose, for a month. It is the first time

doctors report a case of uncontrolled bleeding from the use of PC-

Spes.

 

" He developed spontaneous bleeding from many places, " says co-author

Dr. R. Bruce Montgomery, assistant professor of medicine at the

University of Washington in Seattle. " He had a rapid heartbeat from

the large amount of bleeding and low blood pressure. He didn't tell

anyone he was taking PC-Spes at all, and he was also taking

medication to get rid of his testosterone. "

 

PC-Spes (PC stands for prostate cancer, and " Spes " is the Latin word

for hope) was formulated in the early 1990s by Sophie Chen, who is

now a research associate professor in New York Medical College's

department of medicine, in Valhalla, N.Y. Made of saw palmetto,

licorice, reishi, Balkal Skullcap, Rabdosia, dyer's wood, mum and San-

qi ginseng, it has estrogen-like effects. While not a cure, the

supplement has been studied and is an acknowledged treatment for

prostate cancer.

 

" PC-Spes works to control prostate cancer in those patients whose

cancer is dependent or independent of testosterone, the male

hormone, " Montgomery says. " Prostate cancer uses testosterone to

grow, and the standard practice to treat the disease is either the

removal of the testicles or an injection which results in chemical

castration. PC-Spes has activity in both these types of patients. It

works against prostate cancer because the eight different herbs, it

has been shown, have an estrogen-like effect. "

 

The American Cancer Society says prostate cancer is the second most

common type of cancer in American men after skin cancer. The society

estimates 198,100 new cases of the disease will occur in the United

States in 2001, and about 31,500 men will die of it. Prostate cancer

also is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, exceeded

only by lung cancer. African-American men have double the risk of

white men for the cancer.

 

Montgomery says PC-Spes in high doses seems to have an anti-clotting

effect. " When we looked at the herbal supplement, it appeared to act

like warfarin, which is a blood thinner used in clinical practice for

those who have deep vein thrombosis or clots. "

 

The patient was treated with blood and vitamin K, which increases the

body's ability to coagulate, Montgomery says. The man recovered and

was released.

 

PC-Spes probably is " very useful " against prostrate cancer,

Montgomery says, but patients " should tell their physicians and they

should be monitored. "

 

Paradoxically, past studies have linked PC-Spes to blood clots. " Now

this report shows it can cause bleeding. Both are significant side

effects that need to be watched, " Montgomery says.

 

" Tell patients not to take PC-Spes without consulting a doctor, and

tell them not to overdose, " says Chen.

 

Chen says she developed PC-Spes to help her brother-in-law, who had

prostate cancer. " It's a Chinese herbal formula, only I combined it

with saw palmetto, which is an American herb. Saw palmetto has two

functions; it inhibits testosterone, and it is also an anti-

inflammatory, which I think will help. "

 

What To Do

 

If you have prostate cancer and are contemplating taking PC-Spes,

make sure you contact your physician.

 

For more on prostate cancer, see the American Cancer Society. And to

learn more about the dietary supplement, try the University of

California at San Francisco or PC-Spes.