A Pharmacological and Pharmacotherapeutical evaluation of fruit of Nagapheni (Opuntia elatior Mill.) on Pandu

Present open labelled, randomised clinical trial was planned to evaluate the efficacy of the Nagaphani fruit Swarasa (Opuntia elatior Mill.) in the management of Pandu (anaemia). Well known drug, Punarnava Mandura was taken as comparator drug as it is experimentally as well as clinically proved effective drug for Pandu. Total 105 patients were registered and randomly divided into two groups. In group A Nagaphani Swarasa was administrated at a dose of 20ml twice a day withluke warm water before meal while group B received Punarnava Mandura at a dose of 500mg two tablet twice a day with Takra before meal forthe duration of 2 months with 1 month follow up. At the end of the trial both drugs were found effective in the management of Pandu by significantly significant (p<0.001) relieving in all the cardinal symptoms of Pandu. Both groups produced statistically significant increase in Hb%, TRBC and Serum Iron. In TIBC, group A shows statistically significant result (p>0.05) while group B produced statistically insignificant result (p>0.05). But the difference in between is insignificant. No adverse reactions were reported during the clinical trial indicating safety of Nagaphani Swarasa. Thus, alternative hypothesis is accepted stating that Nagaphani (Opuntia elatior Mill.) fruit can be used in the treatment of Pandu.