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Pediatric Transplants

Traumeel S in preventing and treating mucositis in young patients undergoing SCT: a report of the Children's Oncology Group

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 47, pages 1409–1414 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Mucositis can be a serious complication of hematopoietic SCT (HSCT). A previous phase II trial in 32 children undergoing HSCT reported a beneficial effect of the homeopathic remedy Traumeel S. The Children's Oncology Group sought to replicate the results in a multi-institutional trial. The study was an international multi-center, double-blind, randomized trial comparing Traumeel with placebo in patients aged 3–25 years undergoing myeloablative HSCT. Traumeel/placebo was started on Day −1 as a five-time daily mouth rinse. Efficacy of the treatment was assessed using the modified Walsh scale for mucositis, scored daily from Day −1 to 20 days after HCST. The main outcome was the sum of Walsh scale scores (area-under-the-curve (AUC)) over this period. Other outcomes included narcotic use, days of total parenteral feeding, days of nasogastric feeding and adverse events. In 181 evaluable patients, there was no statistical difference in mucositis (AUC) in the Traumeel group (76.7) compared with placebo (67.3) (P=0.13). There was a trend towards less narcotic usage in the Traumeel patients. No statistically beneficial effect from Traumeel was demonstrated for mucositis. We could not confirm that Traumeel is an effective treatment for mucositis in children undergoing HSCT.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the CCOP Grant U10 CA95861, Chair's Grant U10 CA98543 and the Statistics and Data Center Grant U10 CA98413 of the Children's Oncology Group from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. The authors would also like to thank the CRA's and nurses of the participating COG institutions; they are the backbone of clinical research.

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  1. S F Sencer and T Zhou: co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology/Oncology, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    S F Sencer

  2. California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA

    T Zhou

  3. Biostatistics Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Public Health Policy, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel

    L S Freedman

  4. Samueli Institute, Alexandria,, VA, USA

    J A Ives & W B Jonas

  5. Children's Oncology Group, Arcadia, CA, USA

    T Zhou & Z Chen

  6. University of Manitoba/CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

    D Wall

  7. All Children's Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    M L Nieder

  8. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    S A Grupp

  9. Children's Hospital/LSUHSC, New Orleans, LA, USA

    L C Yu

  10. Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York, New York, NY, USA

    I Sahdev

  11. Miller Children's Hospital, Long Beach, CA, USA

    J D Wallace

  12. The Center for Integrative Complementary Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

    M Oberbaum

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  1. S F Sencer
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Correspondence to S F Sencer.

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Competing interests

Drs. Ives and Oberbaum previously had consulting relationships with Heel Incorporated, but currently none of the authors have any financial relationships with HEEL or any other conflicts.

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Sencer, S., Zhou, T., Freedman, L. et al. Traumeel S in preventing and treating mucositis in young patients undergoing SCT: a report of the Children's Oncology Group. Bone Marrow Transplant 47, 1409–1414 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2012.30

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