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Modified Liujunzi Decoction (六君子汤) Alleviates Chemotherapy-Induced Anorexia in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Propensity Score Matched Case-Control Study

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Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the effect of Chinese herbal medicine formula, modified Liujunzi Decoction (六君子汤, MLJZT), for anorexia, utilized as adjunct therapy during chemotherapy treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods

The study adopted a propensity score-matched design based on a prospective database. From February 2016 to September 2017, patients with advanced NSCLC that received both cisplatin-based chemotherapy and MLJZT (IM group) were 1:1 propensity score-matched to patients that received the cisplatin-based chemotherapy alone (control group). Changes in anorexia and weight, as well as side effects were evaluated per week within 4-cycle chemotherapy.

Results

Overall, 156 patients with advanced NSCLC that had received chemotherapy from our database were identified and 53 pairs were matched successfully. In total, 48.6% (50/53) of patients in the IM group had anorexia-improvement compared to 28.3% (15/53) of patients in the control group, and a total of 39.6% (21/53) of patients in the control group had a worsening of anorexia compared to only 7.8% (8/53) of patients in the IM group (P<0.01). The weight reduced significantly over time in the control group (−2.36 ± 2.53 kg) as compared to the IM group (−0.62 ± 3.89 kg, P<0.01). CHM didn’t reduce the efficacy of chemotherapy in shrinking tumor size, and didn’t increase the incidence of side effects such as hematological and hepatorenal toxicity.

Conclusion

MLJZT is effective and safe for alleviating anorexia in patients with NSCLC. These findings warrant the conduct of a randomized controlled trial.

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the support from the National Institute of Complementary Medicine, and the School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrative Cancer Centre, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou, 510405, China

    Ling-ling Sun, Zhuang-zhong Chen & Li-zhu Lin

  2. Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China

    Ling-ling Sun

  3. Chinese Medicine Center, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, 2751, NSW, Australia

    He-zheng Lai & Xiao-shu Zhu

  4. NICM Health Research Institute Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW, 2751, Australia

    He-zheng Lai & Xiao-shu Zhu

Authors
  1. Ling-ling Sun
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  2. He-zheng Lai
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  3. Zhuang-zhong Chen
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  4. Xiao-shu Zhu
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  5. Li-zhu Lin
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Contributions

Conceptualization and design: Sun LL and Lin LZ; data collection: all authors; data analysis and interpretation: Sun LL and Lai HZ; manuscript written: Sun LL; critical review and revisions of manuscript: all the authors. All authors have agreed with the content and approve of the manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Li-zhu Lin.

Additional information

Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81403227), Guangdong Science and Technology Project (No. 2013A032500011), Guangzhou Science and Technology Project (No. 20150010295), and “Powerful School with Innovation” Project (No. 2014GKXM033)

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Sun, Ll., Lai, Hz., Chen, Zz. et al. Modified Liujunzi Decoction (六君子汤) Alleviates Chemotherapy-Induced Anorexia in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Propensity Score Matched Case-Control Study. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 26, 256–262 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-020-3185-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-020-3185-5

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