CLINICAL EVALUATION OF TERMINALIA CHEBULA FRUIT POWDER IN GLOBUS PHARYNGEUS

*Atul Bhardwaj, Riju Agarwal, Manoj Tanwar and Anoop Kumar

ABSTRACT

Globus pharyngeus (G.P.) is non-painful feeling of a lump with various degrees of foreign body sensation and dysphagic sensation annexed to it. GP is a rather intricate disease to manage but at the same time an innocuous one often having psychosomatic implications. Patients of G.P. always complains about gross enhancement in their globus features particularly in a anxiety or a depressive state of mind and they use to visit multiple physicians for the same complaint despite the fact that they are very well consoled about not having any sinister pathology. Gastro esophageal reflux disorder, hypertonicity of the upper oesophageal sphincter, unorganized oesophageal motility and excessive somatization are frequently related to this disorder. A rigid telelaryngopharyngoscopic examination, upper GI endoscopy and oropharyngeal examination is a prerequisite to rule out red flags of dysphagia before nominating a G.P. Terminalia chebula also know as Haritki in Ayurvedic literature is selected for the current clinical trial for the management of G.P. as it has got proven anti reflux, anti ulcerogenic, antispasmodic action, prokinetic activity and anxiolytic action by virtue of presence of various active constituents pharmacologically. This pilot study intends to explore the multiple pharmacological actions of T. chebula in G.P. by statistically evaluating the effectiveness of the drug by using Atul globus pharyngeus questionnaire (AGPQ) which is a modified version of Glasgow Edinburgh Throat Score and Reflux symptom index for the current study. T. chebula powder in 5 gm bed time dose for two months reflected highly statistically significant results on various parameters of Atul globus pharyngeus questionnaire parameters and also on Reflux symptom index parameters. Paired ‗t‘ test was used to statistically validate the outcome of the trial drug.

Keywords: Globus pharyngeus (GP), Terminalia chebula, Upper oesophageal sphincter (UOS), Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Atul globus pharyngeus questionnaire (AGPQ), Reflux symptom index questionnaire.