Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

Efficacy of Alternative and Other Treatments According to GRADE* Ranking:

Chlorella (Green Algae, Chlorella Pyrenoidosa) [1, 2, 3, 4]:

Please note, this management does NOT treat the condition itself. It may mildly help with some of the symptoms, and even then has insufficient evidence to back up this claim at present.

Recommendation: no recommendation (There is insufficient evidence to support claims that Chlorella helps to treat cirrhosis in any way)

Grade of Evidence: very low quality of evidence

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT):

NOT RECOMENDED

Recommendation: strongly against (available evidence shows that HBOT is in no way useful in treating cirrhosis, and can have harmful effects. NOT RECOMENDED)

Grade of Evidence: Moderate quality of evidence

* www.gradeworkinggroup.org

Summary References

Treatments:
1. Ades T, Alteri R, Gansler T, Yeargin P, "Complete Guide to Complimentary & Alternative Cancer Therapies", American Cancer Society, Atlanta USA, 2009
2. Nakano, S et al. “Maternal-fetal distribution and transfer of dioxins in pregnant women in Japan, and attempts to reduce maternal transfer with Chlorella (Chlorella pyrenoidosa) supplements...” Chemosphere 2005 Dec; 61(9): 1244–55.

3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=11347287&dopt=Abstract

4. http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/chlorella
 

Public Discussion