TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED CANCER FOLLOWING CHEMOTHERAPY AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINE - LONG TERM FOLLOW UP OF 75 CASES

Abstract

Objective: Traditional systems of medicine all over the world even traditional medicine and cancer have been using plants and plants products for therapeutic intention. The purpose of these retrospective trials is to assess the clinical efficacy of chemotherapy in conjunction with TCM for a broad variety of cancers.

Methods: 75 patients with available cancers were concluded in the study during September1993 – May 2018.The sex ratio of male: female was 50:25 respectively. The mean age at onset was 46.9 years（range 10-79 years. All patients were treated with different dosage of various chemotherapy in combination with TCM or traditional medicine alone. The basic chemotherapeutic regimen consisted of vincristine（VCR, 1-2 mg/week)、cyclophosphamide（CTX, 200-1, 000mg/ week), mitomycin C(MMC, 2-4mg/week) and 5-fluorouracil（5-Fu,250-500mg/ day). The detail prescription of TCM varied among a broad variety of carcinomas. The criteria of complete remission（CR）and/or partial remission（PR）is according to the rules where physicians have in common with in clinics. In 75 cases, the CR was obtained in 33(44%) advanced cancers, a short CR in 11(14.7%) cases, PR in 25 (33.3%) cancers, stable disease in 6 cases.. The crude herbs consisted of sargassum, tangle, Oyster（mussels), Poria cocos, Ophiopogon japonicus, Prunella vulgaris, Taraxacum, Scrophularia ningpoensis, Cremastra appendiculata, Trichosanthes Kirilowii, Sophora subprostrata, Houttuynia cordata, Scutellaria barbata d. don and Oldenlandia diffusa roxb.

Results:  Among those long-term survivors, 31 carcinomas obtained in disease-free survival over 5 years, 20 cancers were survival over 10 years, the longest four patients over 25 years.

Conclusion: In this study, it was experienced that a CR was a pivotal influencing factor in those longest survival patients, and traditional medicine was also recommended. Down regulating oncogenic receptors may be useful paradigm and perspective in currently the third line setting of clinical target therapy and in rendering our better understanding of cancer biology.

Peer Review History:

Received 5 April 2018; Revised 11 May; Accepted 13 June; Available online 15 July 2018

Received file:        Reviewer's Comments:

Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 5/10

Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 8.5/10

Reviewer(s) detail:

Dr. Nuray Arı, Ankara University, Turkiye, ari@ankara.edu.tr

Dr. Mohamed Salama, Modern University for Technology & Information, Egypt, salama47@yahoo.com