The role of probiotics in the correction of adverse events during chemotherapy in patients with ovarian malignancies

 Introduction. Increasing the eff ectiveness of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer is an important task of modern oncogynecology. A serious disadvantage of chemotherapeutic drugs used in the treatment of malignant ovarian neoplasms is a low selectivity and the associated high systemic toxicity which manifests itself as a combination of undesirable side effects of chemotherapy (functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, toxic eff ects on various organs and the blood system). In recent years, the role of dysbiosis as a factor aff ecting the tolerability of chemotherapy has been studied.

Aim. To compare the severity of the developing adverse events in patients with malignant ovarian neoplasms receiving chemotherapy with the use of probiotics and without them.

Materials and methods. The study involved 25 patients diagnosed with stage II–IV ovarian cancer. The patients of the study group (10 women) underwent combined treatment (cytoreductive surgery + 6 courses of chemotherapy). During 3 cycles of chemotherapy, the patients of this group received VedaBiotic, an innovative domestic multisynbiotic drug containing 11 strains of probiotics a prebiotic, vitamin C, and a natural sorbent. The comparison group consisted of 15 patients diagnosed with stage II–IV ovarian cancer, who received the same treatment as the patients in the study group but without taking probiotic preparations. To study the eff ectiveness of taking probiotics, the following were assessed: condition of patients according to the Karnofsky Performance Scale (indicator – Karnofsky performance score); quality of life of patients according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire (version 3.0); results of full blood count and blood chemistry.

Results. The assessment of patients’ general status on the Karnofsky Performance Scale showed a signifi cant improvement in the well-being of patients in the study group. Patients who took VedaBiotic had signifi cantly less pronounced subjective complaints such as dyspnea, pain, sleep disturbance, asthenia, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. According to the results of blood chemistry, the level of liver enzymes was signifi cantly lower in the study group.

Conclusion. These data may indicate the possibility of a chemoprotective eff ect on the part of the microbiota of the large intestine. In the authors’ opinion, VedaBiotic can be recommended for the inclusion into the diet of oncological patients receiving anticancer therapy to eff ectively restore the microbiota of the large intenstine.

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