Standalone Ayurveda management of Hodgkin's lymphoma: A case report

The abnormal and uncontrolled growth of lymphatic cells present in the lymphatic system, the lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, and bone marrow is called lymphoma. Hodgkin's lymphoma is a type of malignant growth in lymphatic tissues. Despite conventional anticancer therapy and remedy, there has been no cure for it. No direct reference to Hodgkin's lymphoma has been found in Ayurveda, although the clinical manifestations of Apachi like enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, armpits, or groin, painless swelling, and itchy skin, are similar to those seen in Hodgkin's lymphoma. A case of Hodgkin's lymphoma in a 34-year-old female who presented with multiple enlarged lymph nodes in the right supra clavicle at the neck, along with pain and swelling at site, right ear discharge, burning chest, and headache for the last two years. Biopsy confirmed it to be Hodgkin's lymphoma. The patient was treated with Arbudh hara Kashya, Kanchanar, Haridra, Gomutra, Rodhra Rasa, Tapyadi Loha, Swarna Vasant Malati, vaikrant Bhasma, Heerak Bhasma, Amritbhalatak Avaleha, Sanjivini Vati, Lavan Bhaskar Churna, Swarjika Kshara, Tablet Anacarcin, Kachnar Guggulu in form of Shamana Chikitsa. Local application in the form Kachanaradi Lepa was advised after local swedan with Arkpatra and Erandpantra. The nodular heterogeneous mass and growth on neck of the patient reduced with clinical gradation from 17 to 4 with reduction in first lymph node from 122 mm to 80 mm and in the second lymph node from 108 mm to 20 mm, while in the third lymph node reduced from 32 mm to zero with Ayurveda treatment alone. Thus, a patient with Hodgkin's lymphoma was treated with Ayurveda successfully without conventional therapy. (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institute of Transdisciplinary Health Sciences and Technology and World Ayurveda Foundation. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).