Quality of life in breast cancer patients during chemotherapy and concurrent therapy with a mistletoe extract

The effects of standardized aqueous mistletoe extracts on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of tumor patients needs further evaluation. In this non-interventional, prospective clinical investigation the longitudinal course of Quality of Life of 270 breast cancer patients during adjuvant chemotherapy and mistletoe therapy with abnobaVISCUM® Mali was investigated. HRQoL was measured 4 times by self-assessment with the QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BR23 questionnaire of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC): at the beginning of mistletoe- and chemotherapy, 4 weeks later, at the end of the chemotherapy and 4 weeks after finishing chemotherapy. Secondary objectives were the tolerability and safety of mistletoe therapy in combination with chemotherapy under conditions of daily practice. After an initial deterioration the average range of all obtained QLQ-C30 function scales (n=262, 48.9–71.5) remained stable even at the last chemotherapy cycle and improved significantly (p