How well does Carctol work?
Neither pre-clinical studies of Carctol, nor controlled trials of Carctol for the treatment or palliation of cancer were found.
Between 1985 and 1989 websites claim that 1,900 terminal-stage cancer patients were treated with Carctol by Dr Tiwari (ref 2). The findings are reported on the Internet by a graph plotting the total number of cases against the percentage of response rate, categorised by each type of cancer (including oesophageal, ear, nose and throat, brain, breast, bone, lymphoma, lungs, blood, kidney, cervical, stomach, colorectal, pancreatic and hepatobilliary cancer). On a scale of 0 to 100, patients had to self-score ‘how they were doing’. Patients were then divided into four grades. This is the only background provided regarding the nature of the methodological design:
""Neither pre-clinical studies of Carctol, nor controlled trials of Carctol for the treatment or palliation of cancer were found"
"
- Grade A = 80 to 100% symptom free up to two years then left the follow-up
- Grade B = 50 to 80% symptomatic improvement, then left the follow-up
- Grade C = 5 to 50% improvement, then left the follow-up
- Grade D = those patients who took Carctol for two months only.
Recently, Dr Rosie Daniel from the UK claimed to have prescribed the herbal remedy to 860 cancer patients before and after chemotherapy (ref 3). She stated that, in one fourth of those patients she still has contact with, the growth of the malignant tumour was stopped and in some cases the cancer went into recession or disappeared completely. Again, none of these claims are published in the medical literature.
References
2. Anticancer herb website http://www.anticancerherb.com (accessed on 21.03.05)
3. Guardian, Sept 21st 2004 http://society.guardian.co.uk/cancer/story/0,8150,1309175,00.html (accessed on 08.04.05)
