Successful Treatment of Refractory Gastrointestinal Bleeding by Systemic (Oral) Ankaferd Blood Stopper in a Patient with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia

HAZNEDAROĞLU İ, AKAR N. Effects of Ankaferd Hemostat on Helicobacter pylori strains and antibiotic resistance

Background/aim

Ankaferd hemostat (ABS; Ankaferd blood stopper, İstanbul, Turkey) is a folkloric medicinal plant extract. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Ankaferd hemostat (ABS) on the fate of Helicobacter pylori strains. The study also aims to determine alterations in the antimicrobial resistance of three different H. pylori strains in response to ABS exposure.

Materials and methods

H. pylori Strain 1 was obtained from the culture collection ATCC 43504 and passaged three times for viability. Strain 2 was isolated from a gastric ulcer patient and Strain 3 was isolated from a gastritis patient. 1% of ABS was added to all of the strains and antimicrobial susceptibility was observed on 30 and 60 min after application.

Results

The efficacy of ABS solutions in achieving significant logarithmic reduction in foodborne pathogens of H. pylori was observed in this study. This study showed that ABS has antibacterial (Anti-H. pylori) effects.

Conclusion

Our present study indicated, for the first time, that ABS could act against H. pylori. ABS is clinically used for the management of GI bleeding due to benign and malignant GI lesions. Thus, the possible anti-H. pylori effect of ABS shall expand the therapeutic spectrum of the drug in GI lesions in relation to H. pylori infection such as peptic ulser disease (PUD) and lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomagenesis.

A cross-sectional study of complementary and alternative medicine use in patients with coagulation disorders in Southern Iran

OBJECTIVE

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use has an increasing trend around the world. Despite the wild application of CAM in patients with coagulation disorders, its efficacy is still questioned by many studies. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and types of CAM usage, and the factors affecting CAM use among patients with bleeding disorders.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study investigated the usage of CAM with a standard validated questionnaire in coagulopathic patients who were referred to Dastgheib Hospital, an educational therapeutic center affiliated to the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Shiraz, Southern Iran.

RESULTS

Between December 2015 and May 2016, 75 patients were included in this survey. Severe hemophilia A and rare bleeding disorders were the most frequent among our participants. Overall, nearly half of the studied population (49.3%) used at least one CAM product or practices. The most common products were multivitamin (29.3%), followed by folic acid (21.3%) and chamomile (12%). 32% of the patients resorted to faith healing. The main reasons of using CAM were reported to be increased general health, correction of anemia and thrombocytopenia and control of bleeding tendency.

CONCLUSION

CAM is being used frequently in patients with coagulation disorders like many other chronic illnesses all around the world. Due to emerging concern regarding the safety and possible interaction with the conventional medicine, it is necessary to develop basic data about the hematologic effects of these methods in order to use them more safely.