Abstract
Purpose
To observe the effect of Chinese herbal medicine by stages combined with chemotherapy in treating patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) of stage III or IV.
Methods
Adopting prospective, randomized, controlled, multi-centered trial design, 121 patients enrolled were assigned to the treatment group (n = 65) and the control group (n = 56). All the patients were randomized to receive chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy and Chinese herbal medicine combined (Kangliuzengxiao decoction during chemotherapy and Feiyanning decoction after chemotherapy). The main outcome measures were survival time, Karnofsky score, main clinical symptoms, and adverse reactions.
Results
Five patients discontinued from the trial due to oral administration of Iressa after disease progression or other reasons, and 116 patients were evaluable for clinical efficacy with 63 in the treatment group and 53 in the control group. The overall response rate were 15.87% vs. 7.55% (P = 0.170), and the disease control rate were 85.71% vs. 71.70% in the treatment and control group (P = 0.063), respectively. The median survival time was 16.17 months vs. 12.00 months in the treatment and control group (P = 0.165), respectively. In addition, adverse reactions such as leucopenia in the treatment group were less than those in the control group (P = 0.039).
Conclusions
Chinese herbal medicine combined with chemotherapy showed favorable effect in improving quality of life and prolonging survival time on patients with advanced NSCLC.
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Acknowledgments
The work was supported by Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project, Project Number: Y0302.
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We declare that we have no proprietary, financial, professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript entitled: Treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer with Chinese herbal medicine by stages combined with chemotherapy.
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Xu, Z.Y., Jin, C.J., Zhou, C.C. et al. Treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer with Chinese herbal medicine by stages combined with chemotherapy. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 137, 1117–1122 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-011-0975-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-011-0975-3