Does homeopathically potentized antimony stimulate coagulation? A summary of previous findings and results of an in vitro pilot study by means of thrombelastography

Heusser, Peter; Stutz, Monika; Haeberli, André (2004). Does homeopathically potentized antimony stimulate coagulation? A summary of previous findings and results of an in vitro pilot study by means of thrombelastography. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine, 10(5), pp. 829-34. Larchmont, N.Y.: Mary Ann Liebert 10.1089/acm.2004.10.829

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BACKGROUND: Potentized antimony is traditionally used in anthroposophic medicine to enhance hemostasis in bleeding disorders, but evidence of its effectiveness is scarce. On the other hand, non-toxic and economic additional therapeutic options for hemostatic disorders are desirable. OBJECTIVES: We examined all available literature on the subject and performed a controlled pilot in vitro study to test the procoagulatory potency of antimony D 5. DESIGN: Freshly drawn citrated whole blood of 12 healthy volunteers and 12 patients with bleeding disorders was equally distributed into 344 portions, after which it was mixed with antimony D 5, or its potentized vehicle (lactose D 5) as control solution and tested with thrombelastography. The paired t-test and the Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for statistical analysis. In 5 of the 12 healthy donors, a second blood sample was drawn to assess individual variability and increase the total number of replicates. Thus three separate calculations were performed: for the 12 patients, the 12 healthy donors, and the 5 later samples from the same donors. The analysis was exploratory, and no Bonferroni correction was applied. RESULTS: In the antimony D5 samples of the 12 healthy subjects, but not the patients, there was a tendency toward a shorter clotting time (CT) (p = 0.074) and a trend for an increased clot firmness, expressed as maximal amplitude (MA) (p = 0.058). The increase of MA was significant (p = 0.011) when the later samples were included. No statistical difference was detected for the clot formation time and the clot lysis index. CONCLUSION: The exploratory results of this pilot study are inconclusive as to whether antimony D5 has a procoagulatory effect in vitro, although the results suggest an effect on MA and possibly CT. More research is warranted.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > BioMedical Research (DBMR) > Unit Childrens Hospital > Thromboselabor Kinderklinik [discontinued]
UniBE Contributor:	Häberli, André
ISSN:	1075-5535
Publisher:	Mary Ann Liebert
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 15:12
Last Modified:	02 Mar 2023 23:23
Publisher DOI:	10.1089/acm.2004.10.829
PubMed ID:	15650472
Web of Science ID:	000225047500016
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/31667 (FactScience: 196315)