Homeopathy In Breast Cancer Surgery: The First Randomised Clinical Trial On Treatment With Arnica Montana

Homeopathy In Breast Cancer Surgery: The First Randomised Clinical Trial On Treatment With Arnica Montana

- Drs Luca Sorrentino [1,2], Salvatore Piraneo [1,2], Eliana Riggio [1,2], Silvia Basilicò [3], Alessandra Sartani [1,2], Daniela Bossi [4] & Fabio Corsi [1,2,4]

INTRODUCTION

Surgery is not free from significant complications, despite advancement in surgical techniques and in perioperative care. One of the major complications, particularly for breast and soft tissues surgery, is post-operative bleeding which represents a critical and, in some cases, lethal risk factor [1,2]. Moreover, post-operative bleeding after breast surgery causes a severe discomfort to the patient, entailing the need for surgical re-intervention and sometimes blood transfusions. Another frequent complication of breast surgery is seroma, which often requires numerous accesses for outpatient drainage, finally resulting in a delay of adjuvant therapy administration and a significant psychological burden [3].

A recent study conducted in the United States has extracted from the 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample the hospital discharge rates for primary diagnosis of breast cancer and has selectively identified discharges with post-operative bleeding [3]. Results showed that even if only 2.5 per cent of the discharges had bleeding complications and eventually needed re-operation, globally bleeding complications extended the length of stay by 1.3 days while increasing hospital costs by US$5495 per admission. Moreover, even higher health costs, and patients’ discomfort, are associated with the treatment of chronic or refractory seroma [3].