Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) may help in reducing the side-effects for breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, according to a recent study conducted by the Cochran Collaboration. The Cochran Library is an independent evidence based research group that provides evidence to inform healthcare decision-making.
Although chemotherapy is still considered the best treatment for breast cancer, the side effects can be very unpleasant. Side-effects include nausea and vomiting, decrease in bone marrow density, mouth soreness, lower resistance to infections, hair loss, and weakness and fatigue. More than half of the women that undergo chemotherapy suffer from one or more of these side-effects.
The purpose of the review was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of using traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. The study followed 542 women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy, and concluded while there was no statistical evidence to suggest that Chinese Medicinal Herbs could be harmful, the use of Medicinal Herbs may offer some benefit to those breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in terms of bone marrow improvement and quality of life. There are approximately 50 fundamental herbs used in Chinese medicine and combinations of these herbs make up herbal remedies. For this study, six common herbal remedies were tested.
Despite widespread use of alternative medicine, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine, historically, there have been very few clinical trials to measure the health outcomes from their use. The Cochran study is a welcomed step forward in this direction. The authors admit that more well designed trials are required and that the evidence in this study it too limited to provide confident conclusions.
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