Adjunct Ayurvedic treatment providing more than 10 years of disease-free survival in a rare case of male breast cancer patient with high-grade invasive ductal cell carcinoma - A Case Report.

Abstract

Introduction: Male breast cancer (MBC) is an uncommon malignancy. In spite of conventional Allopathic treatment, long-term disease-free survival (DFS) of more than 10 years in MBC is rare, due to its aggressive nature.

Case presentation: We report a case of 56 years old, stage IIB and grade III invasive ductal cell carcinoma MBC (Lt) patient, operated for left modified radical mastectomy with axillary clearance followed by six cycles of chemotherapy during October 2010-January 2011. Patient was on hormonal treatment from March 2011 till May 2021. He opted for adjunct Ayurvedic treatment throughout the conventional treatments for the period of 10 years. Ayurvedic treatment in the form of treatment for pacifying imbalanced humors (Doshas) and disease (Shamana chikitsa) and treatment for immunomodulation (Rasayana Chikitsa); and periodic detoxifying treatment (Panchakarma Chikitsa) was given in this patient. He was also advised healthy diet and lifestyle at our center. The treatment chosen was mainly to reduce side effects of chemotherapy like anorexia, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhoea, taste disturbance, mucositis, fatigue and fever. It also helped in improving quality of life and increasing DFS.

Conclusion: The long DFS of 10 years and 3 months with good Quality of Life and minimal side effects of conventional cancer therapy could be ascribed to the adjunct Ayurvedic treatment given to this patient. We have to observe the benefits in more number of patients in future to define usefulness of this treatment modality.