Ayurveda management in terminally sick patients of hepatocellular carcinoma: A case series

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The traditional system of medicines is gaining momentum with increasing acceptance in the management of various pathologies; HCC is also one among such ones. Still, there is no consensus on the Ayurveda treatment algorithm for hepatocellular cancer. This case series is intended to provide evidence of the efficacy of Ayurveda treatment protocol for patients diagnosed with HCC. The case series presents four diagnosed cases of HCC, who were evaluated through pretreatment and during treatment assessment through laboratory data, patient performance status, Child–Pugh Scale, and the Barcelona clinic’s Liver cancer staging system. The survival outcome, i.e., the time from initiation of Ayurveda medication until death was noted for all the cases. An Ayurveda treatment regimen was prepared from conventional practices and administrated to four cases of advanced HCC. The Ayurveda intervention increased the survival time more than the predicted survival time irrespective of etiology, without the contemporary chemotherapy medications, and patient performance status in all four cases. However, hepatitis B virus-infected patients had less survival time than HCC manifested from alcoholic cirrhosis. These preliminary observations have brought an idea about the positive effects of Ayurveda interventions in terminal HCC patients. Further studies are recommended to prepare the Ayurveda treatment algorithm for hepatocellular cancer.