Laetrile
Milazzo S, Ernst E, Lejeune S, Schmidt K. Laetrile treatment for cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Apr 19;(2):CD005476.
Milazzo S, Lejeune S, Ernst E. Laetrile for cancer: a systematic review of the clinical evidence. Support Care Cancer. Published online: 15 November 2006.
Background
Many cancer patients opt for conventional cancer treatments to turn towards alternative cancer treatments. Laetrile is an unconventional therapy which has been illegally used for decades by cancer patients who together with many alternative therapists claim it is effective as a cancer treatment. Laetrile has been often referred as amygdalin, although the two are not the same.
Objectives
The aim of this review is to summarize the evidence of effectiveness and safety of Laetrile interventions in cancer patients of all ages, with any type of cancer and at any stage.
Methods
All types of studies containing original clinical data of Laetrile interventions for any cancer patients have been included in our systematic review. We searched The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL); MEDLINE (from 1951); EMBASE (from 1980); Allied and Complementary Medicine (AMED), Scirus, CancerLit, CINAHL (all from 1982); CAMbase (from 1998); the MetaRegister; the National Research Register and our own files. For safety case reports we searched the Uppsala database. No language restrictions were imposed.
Results
Most of the studies we retrieved on Laetrile had to be excluded since they were not relevant to our research question and did not fit our inclusion criteria. No controlled clinical trials were found. Three articles were non consecutive case series, two were consecutive case series, 6 best case series and 25 were case reports. None of these publications proved the effectiveness of laetrile beyond reasonable doubt.
Conclusion
The claim that Laetrile has beneficial effects for cancer patients is not supported by data from controlled clinical trials.
