Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. A 2% application of boswellia cream, when applied during radiation treatment, reduced “intense erythema” in 22% of participants compared to 49% of the control group while 19% of participants who underwent both chemotherapy and radiation had “intense erythema” compared to 48.6% of the control group.
One of the treatments for breast cancer, which caused 39,920 deaths in 2012 (1), is radiation (2). But radiation causes skin reactions in 85-95% of the patients, resulting in free radical and DNA damage to the layers of skin that is classified as a “complex wound”. This damage increases inflammation to the damaged skin, resulting in a skin condition called “radiation dermatitis” (3).
Now a new study (4) suggests that Boswellia extract may help. In the study, women between the ages of 47 and 69 undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer received either a cream containing 2% Boswellia (55 women) or a placebo (59 women) cream. The cream was applied twice daily:
- Immediately after radiation therapy and before bed-time on radiation therapy days,
- In the morning and at night on days with no radiotherapy administration.
The primary endpoint of this study was the intensity of erythema upon radiation therapy at the 50 Gray dose (5). Gray is the unit of radiation, so the 50 Gray dose is the amount of radiation the women received.
The grade of intensity of the redness (“erythema”) developed after the radiation therapy was evaluated using the following visual grading scale: slight (slight redness, spotty, and diffuse), moderate
(moderate and uniform redness), intense (intense redness) (6).
The researchers noted a significant benefit of Boswellia compared to placebo group regarding intensity of skin redness. Specifically:
- 22% of Boswellia patients had “intense erythema” compared to 49% of the placebo group (p = 0.009 )
- 30.5% of Boswellia patients had “moderate erythema” compared to 41.8% of the placebo group (p = 0.009).
- 20.3% of Boswellia patients had “slight erythema” compared to 36.4% of the placebo group (p = 0.009).
In addition, Boswellia also offered significant benefits to skin health when the subjects also underwent chemotherapy in addition to radiation, with 19% of Boswellia patients have “intense erythema” compared to 48.6% of those in the placebo group (p = 0.018).
When suggesting a mechanism for the healthful skin effects of Boswellia, the researchers pointed to studies showing anti-inflammatory effects, especially in blocking activity of inflammatory proteins that include 5-lipoxygenase, TNF alpha, and NF-kB (7, 8). For the researchers, “a base cream containing boswellic acids (boswellia cream) could be safely applied to prevent or alleviate radiation-induced skin reactions” and that “Future trials with robust sample size are warranted to confirm the effectiveness of a cream containing boswellic acids as a treatment for radiation skin reactions.”
Source: Togni, S., et al. “Clinical evaluation of safety and efficacy of Boswellia-based cream for prevention of adjuvant radiotherapy skin damage in mammary carcinoma: a randomized placebo controlled trial.” Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 19.8 (2015): 1338-1344.
Posted December 18, 2015.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.
References:
- “The Economic Impact of Cancer” form the American Cancer Society Website
- Pignol JP. A multicenter randomized trial of breast intensity-modulated radiation therapy to reduce acute radiation dermatitis. J Clin Oncol 2008; 26: 2085-2092
- Hymes SR. Radiation dermatitis:clinical presentation, pathophysiology, and treatment. J Am Acad Dermatol 2006; 54: 28-46.
- Togni S. Clinical evaluation of safety and efficacy of Boswellia-based cream for prevention of adjuvant radiotherapy skin damage in mammary carcinoma: a randomized placebo controlled trial. Eur Rev Med Pharm Sci 2015; 19: 1338-1344
- “Gray” posted on the Health Physics Society website
- Viyoch J. Effects of trans-4-(aminomethyl) cyclohexanecarboxylic acid/potassium azeloyl diglycinate/ niacinamide topical emulsion in Thai adults with melasma: a single-center, randomized, double- blind, controlled study. Curr Ther Res Clin Exp 2010; 71: 345-359
- Hamidpour R. Frankincense (ru xiang; boswellia species): from the selection of traditional applications to the novel phytotherapy for the prevention and treatment of serious diseases. J Tradit Complement Med 2013; 3: 221-226
- Poeckel D. Boswellic acids: biological actions and molecular targets. Curr Med Chem 2006; 13: 3359-3369.
