Case reports on mistletoe therapy for skin cancer

Case 1: Merkel cell carcinoma 

Case 2: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

Case 3: Metastatic malignant melanoma 

Case 4: Merkel cell carcinoma

Durable tumour responses following primary high dose induction with mistletoe extracts: two case reports

Orange M et al. 2010 [272]

Patient 1: A 75-year-old female patient with histologically confirmed Merkel cell carcinoma with axillary lymph node involvement underwent surgery but refused radiation and further oncological treatment. She was treated with a combined intratumoural (into the axillary lesion), intravenous and subcutaneous mistletoe therapy for 9.8 months.

The axillary lesion was no longer palpable four months after mistletoe induction (defined as the period during which febrile reactions to mistletoe extracts are induced). Five months later the complete remission could be confirmed clinically as well as radiologically and another three months later by CT scan. Two years after mistletoe induction the patient was symptom-free and in good health.

Patient 2: The second case is a 56-year-old breast cancer patient whose course is described under the tumour entity Breast cancer.

Durable response of cutaneous squamous cell cancer following high-dose peri-lesional injections of Viscum album extracts: a case report

Werthmann PG et al. 2013 [162]

High-dose perilesional mistletoe therapy resulted in complete clinical remission in a 78-year-old patient with cutaneous squamous cell cancer The patient was recurrence-free and in good health at the time of publication, i.e. four years after diagnosis. Apart from mistletoe therapy, no tumour-specific therapy was applied.

Complete remission and long-term survival of a patient with melanoma metastases treated with high-dose fever-inducing Viscum album extract: a case report

Werthmann PG et al. 2017 [168]

A 61-year-old female patient with metastatic malignant melanoma refused chemo-immunotherapy and was treated with subcutaneous and later with combined intravenous and intralesional high-dose mistletoe therapy. In the following months the metastases receded. Two years after the start of mistletoe therapy a complete remission of all lesions was observed.

At the time of writing this publication the patient has been tumour-free for three and a half years, five years after the start of intensified mistletoe therapy.

A 21-year course of Merkel cell cancer with adjuvant Viscum album extract treatment: a case report

Werthmann et al. 2018 [164]

A 64-year-old female patient with Merkel cell cancer of the left upper arm developed four lymph node relapses over the course of 21 years, which were all surgically removed. The patient refused chemo- and radiotherapy and opted for adjuvant treatment with subcutaneous mistletoe injections in increasing doses.

21 years after initial diagnosis and nine and a half years after the last relapse, the patient is tumour-free, in good health and without functional limitations.