Background: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are common cancer treatments. However, the development of adverse effects resulting from chemotherapy and radiotherapy hinders clinical use and negatively reduces the quality of life in cancer patients. Natural products, such as Curcumin prepared from herbs besides herbal formulas have been proved to prevent adverse effects of chemo radiotherapy in several studies. This study focuses on the impact of Curcumin on the prevention and treatment of adverse chemo radiotherapy effects in patients with colorectal cancer.

Method: This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial study was performed on patients with colorectal cancer who received 28 days of radiation therapy. The participants were randomly assigned to the curcumin or placebo group with a chemo-radiation indication. Patients received oral curcumin (500 mg/day) or placebo for the entire treatment period. Patients in two groups were evaluated for intestinal symptoms and every two weeks after chemo-radiation and after the end of treatment.

Results: All 48 participants were randomly assigned 1:1 to curcumin (24 patients) and placebo group (24 patients). Among them, 44 patients were evaluated for analysis (22 patients and 22 patients in the curcumin group and placebo group). The treatment period was the total radiotherapy duration (28 days) in the curcumin and placebo groups. The proportion of patients with symptoms of complications during the treatment period in the curcumin group (7 patients 31%) was not significantly less than the placebo group (9 patients 40%). There was no significant difference in adverse drug reaction between the two groups (31% versus 40%, P =0.17).

Conclusion: Consumption of the curcumin for six weeks did not significantly reduce the adverse effects of chemo-radiotherapy in the study population. Curcumin is tolerated and safe in these patients. We could not conclude that curcumin is a potential therapeutic perspective for the prevention and treatment of chemotherapy and radiotherapy-induced side effects. Further studies are required to validate the efficacy of natural products in cancer patients and elucidate potential underlying mechanisms.

Keywords: Rectal cancer- Curcumin- Enteritis- Radiation Therapy

nadia najafizade