Aloe vera

Surgery

Diarrhea

Rectum

Clinical trial

Placebo

Radiation proctitis

Alternative medicine

Proctitis

Internal medicine

Medicine

Ulcerative colitis

Gastroenterology

Disease

Abdominal pain

Traditional medicine

Randomized controlled trial

Pathology

BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies

Acute radiation-induced proctitis (ARP) is the most common side effect following radiotherapy for malignant pelvic disease. This study evaluated the efficacy of Aloe vera ointment in prevention of ARP.Forty-two patients receiving external-beam radiotherapy (RT) for pelvic malignancies were randomized to receive either Aloe vera 3% or placebo topical ointment during radiotherapy for 6 weeks. These patients were evaluated based on the severity (grade 0-4) of the following symptoms weekly: rectal bleeding, abdominal/rectal pain, diarrhea, or fecal urgency. RTOG acute toxicity criteria and psychosocial status of the patients were also recorded weekly. Lifestyle impact of the symptoms, and quantitative measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP), an indicator of systemic inflammation, were also measured.The results of present study demonstrated a significant preventive effect for Aloe vera in occurrence of symptom index for diarrhea (p < 0.001), rectal bleeding (p < 0.001), and fecal urgency (p = 0.001). The median lifestyle score improved significantly with Aloe vera during RT (p < 0.001). Intervention patients had a significant lower burden of systemic inflammation as the values for quantitative CRP decreased significantly over 6 weeks of follow-up (p = 0.009).This study showed that Aloe vera topical ointment was effective in prevention of symptoms of ARP in patients undergoing RT for pelvic cancers.IRCT201606042027N6. Registration date: 2016-09-04.

Prevention of acute radiation-induced Proctitis by Aloe vera: a prospective randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial in Pelvic Cancer patients