Magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of the effect of tualang honey in breast tissue among postmenopausal breast cancer patient treated with anastrazole in HUSM
Objective: To investigate whether the combination treatment with Tualang
honey (TH) influences the background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) at
breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in postmenopausal women with
history of breast cancer treated with anastrozole.
Methodology: A total of 22 patients were recruited for both control (1 mg
anastrozole daily) and intervention (1 mg anastrozole daily + 20 mg TH daily)
groups from Oncology Clinic, Hospital USM, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.
Inclusive criteria included postmenopausal women with unilateral breast cancer
stages I, II, or III, oestrogen receptor (ER) positive and/or progesterone
receptor (PgR) positive and receiving anastrazole as treatment for or less a
year were included. The BPE of contralateral breast before and 6 months after
treatment was compared side by side using sign test.
Results: A decrease in BPE was noted in 10% of women (p = 0.317) on
anastrozole treatment, resulted in a category change of BPE from moderate to
mild. The combination of anastrozole and TH treatment showed a decrease in
BPE in 42% (p = 0.034) of postmenopausal breast cancer women. BPE
decreased by one category of assessment in four women and by two
categories of assessment in one woman.
Conclusions: The combination of TH and anastrozole is more efficacious than
anastrozole alone in decreasing breast BPE of ER-positive postmenopausal
breast cancer women and thus reducing the risk of cancer recurrence. These
findings further support the medicinal value of TH