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BMJ Case Reports 2009; doi:10.1136/bcr.09.2008.0926
  • Unexpected outcome (positive or negative) including adverse drug reactions

Herb-related aneuploidy in breast fibroadenoma

  1. Chun-Ju Chang1,2,
  2. Jen-Hwey Chiu1,3,
  3. Chew-Wun Wu3,
  4. Wing-Yu Lui3
  1. 1
    Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, No. 155, Section II, Li-Nong Street, Pei-tou, Taipei, 112, Taiwan, ROC
  2. 2
    Department of Food Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, No. 2 Pei-Ning Road, Keelung, 20224, Taiwan, ROC
  3. 3
    Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei-Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section II, Shih-pei Road, Taipei, 115, Taiwan, ROC
  1. Jen-Hwey Chiu, chiujh{at}mailsrv.ym.edu.tw
  • Published 12 May 2009

Summary

There is consensus that attitudes toward seeking complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are different between oriental and western patients. A 16-year-old girl who presented with enlarged breast tumours also had a 3-year history of “Si-Wu-Tang” (SWT) intake. Pathology of the resected breast tumour disclosed a giant fibroadenoma with aneuploid status. A cohort study was conducted between two groups of patients with fibroadenomas: SWT intake (+) group and SWT intake (−) group. Patients were told to discontinue SWT intake for 3 months, and this was followed by breast ultrasonographic examination in both groups. The tumour sizes before and after discontinued SWT intake were 2.3±0.11 cm and 1.5±0.12 cm in the SWT (+) group, and 1.7±0.15 cm and 1.6±0.14 cm in SWT (−) group, respectively (p<0.05). It is concluded that this report provides important information for patients with breast tissue diseases and that continuous intake of medicinal herbs is recommended only under the guidance of trained CAM providers.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: none.

  • Patient consent: Patient/guardian consent was obtained for publication.

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