The effectiveness of Avemar (a fermented wheat germ extract) as an adjunct therapy in the treatment of cancer: A systematic review

Tracey Yeend 1 Dr Craig Lockwood 2 Alexa McArthur 3 1 RN RM AdDipNsg BNsg AdDipNatMed MClinSc Candidate, The Joanna Briggs Institute

2 RN BN, GDipClinNurs MNSc PhD Director, Translation Science, The Joanna Briggs Institute 3 RN RM MPHC MClinScResearch Fellow, Translation Science The Joanna Briggs Institute

The objective of this review is to identify the effectiveness of Avemar as an adjunct therapy to conventional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, in the treatment of haematological and tumour based cancers.

Background Inclusion criteria Review statusReview question

References

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Acknowledgments

The purpose of this systematic review is to comprehensively search, retrieve and critically appraise, then extract and synthesise the evidence directly related to the administration of Avemar as an adjunct therapy with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Evidence will be evaluated for all clinical applications of orally administered Avemar as an adjunct therapy in all types of cancers, regardless of timing, diagnosis, prognosis, disease progression and implemented treatment.

The aim of the review is to assess the effectiveness of Avemar when administered concurrently with conventional treatments when compared to conventional treatments alone.

I acknowledge fellow JBI HDR Candidate, Kai Robinson, for his assistancein being secondary reviewer, solely for the purpose of critical appraisal.I acknowledge Dr Craig Lockwood for his role as Principal supervisor.I acknowledge Alexa McArthur for her role as Associate supervisor.This review forms part of Tracey Yeend's submission for the Master of Clinical Science, funded by a Commonwealth Higher Research Degree scholarship, through the Joanna Briggs Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Adelaide.