A REVIEW ARTICLE ON ANTICANCEROUS DRUGS IN AYURVEDA AND SCREENED ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS

Cancer also known as a malignant tumor, is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Cancer prevalence in India is estimated to be around 2.5 million, with over eight lakh new cases and 5, 50,000deaths occurring each year. According to Ayurveda, in Cancer is termed as Arbuda which is resultant of vitiation of all the three doshas. They intern vitiate 'mamsa and 'Rakta' results in Arbuda, Current treatment modalities for cancer include radiotherapy used in conjunction with chemotherapy or surgery as need be in order to minimize local control. As these treatments are effective against cancer, they also have adverse effects on the patient's body. Many plants have been documented in the Ayurvedic Classics for their use in the treatment of Arbuda.3Also in the recent past many plants have been screened for their anticancer activity. Some have them have also shown promising results in ?vitro. At least these plants can be quite effectively used as an alternative therapy to counteract the adverse effects produced by current therapy. This paper deals with the review of the medicinal plants told in Ayurveda for Cancer and highlights the related researches on plants with promising results with their mechanism of action