The effect of long-term traditional Chinese medicine treatment on disease-free survival of postoperative stage I-III lung cancer patients: a retrospective cohort study

Journal Title: Traditional Medicine Research - Year 2019, Vol 4, Issue 2

Abstract

Objective: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been extensively used as one of popular alternative therapies for several cancers. However, it remains unclear whether TCM treatment is associated with longer survival in lung cancer patients. In this study, we explored the effect of long-term TCM treatment on patients with different stages of lung cancer. Methods: All information of lung cancer patients with stage I-III disease from January 2007 to September 2015 was collected for this retrospective cohort study. Those who were treated with TCM after surgery were divided into TCM group and the others were into the non-TCM group (control group). All patients were regularly followed up by clinic appointment or phone, and all survival data were collected from databases after the last follow-up in October 2017. Results: A total of 575 patients were included in this study, with 299 patients in the TCM group and 276 in the control group. For all patients, 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 62.2% in TCM group and 42.1% in the control group, and 6-year DFSs were 51.8% and 35.4%, respectively (HR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.40 to 0.66, log-rank P ≤ 0.001). For patients with stage I, 5-year DFSs were 83.7% (TCM group) and 57.5% (control group) and 6-year DFSs were 73.7% and 51.9%, respectively (HR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.18 to 0.50, log-rank P ≤ 0.001). For patients with stage II in the TCM group and the control group, 5-year DFSs were 59.4% and 17.6% and 6-year DFSs were 44.7% and 17.6%, respectively (HR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.52, log-rank P ≤ 0.001), and for patients with stage III, 5-year and 6-year DFSs in the TCM group were 18.7% and 12.5% compared with 28.4% and 20.3% in the control group (HR = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.72 to 1.56, log-rank P = 0.76). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that long-term TCM treatment as an adjuvant therapy is able to improve the DFS of postoperative stage I-III lung cancer patients, especially in patients with stage I and II disease. However, these observational findings need being validated by large sample randomized controlled trials.

Authors and Affiliations

Su-Tong Liu, Su-Fang Zhang,Kai-Qi Su, Ying-Bin Luo, Zhi-Hong Fang, Yuan Fang, Jing Xu, Jian-Chun Wu,Yan Li

Keywords

Related Articles

How to establish precise proprietary Chinese medicine in post-marketing reappraisal?

The clinical efficacy and safety of proprietary Chinese medicine has become a more prevailing public health concern. The China Food and Drug Administration has pushed drug companies to conduct post-marketing reappraisal...

Research on Xijiao Dihuang Decoction suppressing platelet apoptosis in immune-mediated aplastic anemia based on mitochondrial mediated pathway

The aplastic anemia mice model was established in this study. BALB/c mice shall be treated with whole body irradiation with 60 Co-γradiation (5.5Gy, 1.1Gy/min × 5 min). then within 4 h, DBA/2 mice were injected lymphocyt...

Modulation by anti-oketsu formulations in Kampo medicine of human arterial stiffness

Objective: In traditional herbal medicine (Kampo medicine in Japan), “sho” is diagnosed by the traditional assessments of clinical conditions. Among a variety of the shos, there is an “oketsu” syndrome, which is a stagna...

Intestinal obstruction after radical surgery of cervical cancer in a patient with situs inversus

1. The case of Situs Inversus (SI) patient who suffered intestinal obstruction after the radical surgery of cervical cancer is rare and complex. 2. Diagnostic and therapeutic technology were applied to the entire treatme...

TMR:A new star for the research of traditional medicine

After several years of preparation, we are excited that Traditional Medicine Research (TMR), an electronic English international academic journal in the field of traditional medicine, is now being launched. As one of the...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP45111
  • DOI 10.12032/TMR20190225099
  • Views 305
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Su-Tong Liu, Su-Fang Zhang, Kai-Qi Su, Ying-Bin Luo, Zhi-Hong Fang, Yuan Fang, Jing Xu, Jian-Chun Wu, Yan Li (2019). The effect of long-term traditional Chinese medicine treatment on disease-free survival of postoperative stage I-III lung cancer patients: a retrospective cohort study. Traditional Medicine Research, 4(2), -. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-45111