Does
Homeopathic Medicine can cure
cholelithiasis ? An Ultrasonographic
follow up result of 179 patients in Bangladesh
Selim M. Ansari, MBBS 1
Sabina Banu, MBBS 2
Tahmina Begum , MBBS 2
Abu Bakkar Siddique , MBBS 2
Centre for Nuclear Medicine &
Ultrasound
Shahid Ziaur Rahman Medical College
P.O.Box # 61
Bogra 5800
BANGLADESH
Tel:
880 – 51 – 72656
e-mail:
nmcbogra@bttb.net.bd
___________________________________________________________
1. Chief Medical Officer
2. Medical Officer
Objective - To
evaluate the efficacy of homeopathic medicine in
treatment of cholelithiasis
.
Design - Ultrasonographic follow up of
patients with cholelithiasis
getting homeopathic
treatment .
Setting - Patients referred by different
homeopathic practitioners of
Bogra and surrounding areas .
Patients - 179 patients with cholelithiasis
diagnosed on or before June
’98 and followed up upto
December 2002 . All these patients were
getting homeopathic Medicine after diagnosis for variable period . (Male 67 ,
Female 112 . Avg . age 32 . 6 years ) .
Results - No patient was found to be cured
during this period of follow
up . In few patients (
17 % ) , episodes of periodic pain was
lowered for time being during treatment . 33 % patients developed complications
during follow up period
Conclusion - Homeopathic medicine seems to have no
role in curing the
patients with cholelithiasis
, rather may allow complications to develop .
Gallstones are more common in woman than in man increase in incidence in both sexes and all races with aging 1 .
Gall stones vary in composition , but the symptoms
are almost same in all types of gall stones 2 .
In Bangladesh , homeopathic doctors claim good
results in treating the patients of cholelithiasis . According to the
homeopathic practitioners , the medication aims to dissolve the gall stones ,
thus aid to be excreted through bile 2 .
We conducted study in 179 patients with cholelithiasis , who were under homeopathic treatment for 1 – 3 years . We followed up these patients at regular interval for 2 – 3 years to find out any appreciable improvement , that is disappearance or reduction in size or bulk of gall stone by this type of treatment . The aim of our study was to find out whether there is any effectiveness of homeopathic medicine in curing cholelithiasis .
179 patients ( Male
67 & female 112 with male – female ratio 1 : 1.67 ) clinically diagnosed as suffering from cholelithiasis were selected for the study .
Patients with stones in the lumen of the gall bladder only was included in the
study. Stones in the common bile duct ( CBD ) were excluded , because almost
all of these patient with stones in CBD
when first reported were with some
complication. All of the them were under homeopathic treatment. Follow up was
done by serial Ultrasonography (USG) at three months interval to all patients .
As USG is the only non invasive , safe
and cheapest method available for detection of gall stone 4-7 , we preferred this method for follow up . USG were done in
four different machine ( Aloka SSD 1100
Flexus , Kontron SIGMA 21 , Shimadzu SDL 310 & HP Image Point HX ) . All the machines were equipped with 3.5
MHz Linear , Curvilinear & Sector transducer . The study was done between
the period of June ‘ 98 to Dec. ’2001.
All the results were studied by 4 sonologists separately and all of them were unaware of
the previous results . No discrepancies were found between the finding of the
observers .
The ratio of male and female patients is 1: 1.
67 . After 2 - 3 years of treatment by
homeopathic medicine , USG findings of
all patients were unchanged , that is presence of gall stones ( single or
multiple ) is noted . Even in few cases ( 33 % ) it become worse than earlier
findings . These patients reported to the hospital within this period of follow
up , with complication . Among these complicated patients , 3 patients died who
presented with jaundice and hepatic failure .
DISCUSSION
85 % people of our country lives in villages . Ours
is one of the poorest country in the world with high illiteracy rate . Due to
lack of adequate modern medical facilities in the remote villages , it is not
easy for the people to attain better medical facilities , not only for
cholelithiasis but for all of their physical sufferings . They also have fear
of undergoing any invasive treatment like surgery .
The people goes to homeopathic practitioners , as
homeopathy treatment is comparatively cheaper and it devoid of surgery . In our
study , no differences was found in the patients before and after treatment
with homeopathic medicine . Even in few cases the disease became worse , even
resulted in death in 3 patients . However , few patients ( 17 % ) stated that
episodic right hypchondriac pain was relieved by using homeopathic medicine .
Again few patients ( 33 % ) developed complications due to delay in
surgical intervention .
In conclusion , we may state that there is no definite evidence that homeopathic
medicine have any prospective effect in curing cholelithiasis .
1.
Current
Medical Diagnosis and Treatment . 2 nd . ed . prentice Hall Int . Inc . USA , pp . 415
2.
Bailey
& Love’s Short Practice in Surgery . H . K . Lewis & Co . Ltd . UK . pp
. 963
3.
Comparative
Materia Medica . 8 th. ed . M . Bhat & Co . Calcutta ,
India , pp . 234
4.
Yeh HE . Ultrasonography and Computed tomography of the
Gall bladder . Radiology : 2979 , 133 : 167 – 173
5.
Darla Palma L , Rizzato G , Pozzi Mucalli RS
et al . Grey Scale ultrasonography in the evaluation of gall bladder
carcinoma . Br J Radiol . 1980 ; 53 : 662 – 667
6.
Deitch EA , Engel JM . Ultrasound in elective biliary
tract surgery . Am J Surg . 1980 ; 140 : 277 – 283 .
7.
Peter R Mueller , Joseph V Sim . New concept in biliary
ultrasound . Seminars in US , CT & MRI . 1984 ; Vol . 5 No . 4 : 333 – 345