Trial reportDeutsches Arzteblatt international2014
Quality of life of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer during treatment with mistletoe: a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Deutsches Arzteblatt international, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02948309 (Mistletoe Therapy in Primary & Recurrent Inoperable Pancreatic Cancer. A Phase III Prospective Randomized Double Blinded Multicenter Parallel Group Placebo Controlled Clinical Trial on Overall Survival and Quality of Life), which is not on this map. Cited by 51 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Mistletoe Therapy in Primary & Recurrent Inoperable Pancreatic Cancer. A Phase III Prospective Randomized Double Blinded Multicenter Parallel Group Placebo Controlled Clinical Trial on Overall Survival and Quality of Life
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Management of Fatigue in Adult Survivors of Cancer: ASCO-Society for Integrative Oncology Guideline Update.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2024Guideline
- Mistletoe Extracts during the Oncological Perioperative Period: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Human Randomized Controlled Trials.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2023Pooled it
- Systematic analysis of mistletoe prescriptions in clinical studies.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Cancer-related fatigue in patients treated with mistletoe extracts: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Pooled it
- Quality of life in cancer patients treated with mistletoe: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2020Pooled it
- Mistletoe in oncological treatment: a systematic review : Part 2: quality of life and toxicity of cancer treatment.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2019Pooled it
- Mistletoe in oncological treatment: a systematic review : Part 1: survival and safety.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2019Pooled it
- Systematic Review of the Use of Phytochemicals for Management of Pain in Cancer Therapy.BioMed research international · 2015Pooled it
- Mistletoe extract in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer: Health-related quality of life in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial (MISTRAL).Palliative medicine · 2026Trial
- Mistletoe Extract in Patients With Advanced Pancreatic Cancer: a Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Tial (MISTRAL)Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2024Trial
- Article
- Recommendations for cancer related fatigue in post-treatment survivorship care: a cross-sectional analysis of guidelines.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Review
- Review
- In Reply.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2025Article
- Scrutiny Is Required.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2025Article
- Modulated electro-hyperthermia therapy combined with Korean mistletoe extract treatment exerts a strong anti-tumor activity by enhancing cellular and humoral immune responses in mice.Animal cells and systems · 2025Article
- Vortex-like vs. turbulent mixing of a Viscum album preparation affects crystalline structures formed in dried droplets.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Mistletoe and Pancreatic Cancer.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2024Article
- Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe treatment of cancer patients with mistletoe extract is said to prolong their survival and, above all, improve their quality of life. We studied whether the quality of life of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer could be improved by mistletoe extract.
methodAn open, single-center, group-sequential, randomized phase III trial (ISRCTN70760582) was conducted. From January 2009 to December 2010, 220 patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer who were receiving no further treatment for pancreatic cancer other than best supportive care were included in this trial. They were stratified by prognosis and randomly allocated either to a group that received mistletoe treatment or to one that did not. Mistletoe extract was given in escalating doses by subcutaneous injection three times a week. The planned interim evaluation of data from 220 patients indicated that mistletoe treatment was associated with longer overall survival, and the trial was terminated prematurely. After termination of the study, the results with respect to quality of life (assessed with the QLO-C30 scales of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer) and trends in body weight were evaluated.
resultsData on quality of life and body weight were obtained from 96 patients treated with mistletoe and 72 control patients. Those treated with mistletoe did better on all 6 functional scales and on 7 of 9 symptom scales, including pain (95% confidence interval [CI] -29 to -17), fatigue (95% CI -36.1 to -25.0), appetite loss (95% CI -51 to -36.7), and insomnia (95% CI -45.8 to -28.6). This is reflected by the trend in body weight during the trial.
conclusionIn patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic carcinoma, mistletoe treatment significantly improves the quality of life in comparison to best supportive care alone. Mistletoe is an effective second-line treatment for this disease.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.