Integrative Cancer Therapies (Jul 2021)

Traditional Chinese Medicine in Cancer Care: An Overview of 5834 Randomized Controlled Trials Published in Chinese

  • Chun-Li Lu PhD,
  • Xun Li PhD,
  • Hong-Mei Zhou BA,
  • Chi Zhang BA,
  • Ya-Yue Yang BA,
  • Ru-Li Feng BA,
  • Chao-Jun Long BA,
  • Fang-Yuan Deng BA,
  • Jing-Chun Li BA,
  • Ze-Ming Cao BA,
  • Qi-Yuan Mao BA,
  • Jin-Pu Zhu BA,
  • Yan-Fei Hong BA,
  • Shou-Yu Huang BA,
  • Jia-Ying Qiu BA,
  • Yi-Xiu Liu BA,
  • Ying Wang MMS,
  • Yu-Qian Yan MMS,
  • Jia-Min Dong BA,
  • Yu-Xin Luo BA,
  • Yun-Meng Chen BA,
  • Ying-Jie Guan BA,
  • Lisa Susan Wieland MPH, PhD,
  • Nicola Robinson PhD,
  • Jian-Ping Liu PhD, MD

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/15347354211031650
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20

Abstract

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Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely integrated into cancer care in China. An overview in 2011 identified 2384 randomized and non-randomized controlled trials (RCTs, non-RCTs) on TCM for cancer published in the Chinese literature. This article summarizes updated evidence of RCTs on TCM for cancer care. Methods: We searched 4 main Chinese databases: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, SinoMed, and Wanfang. RCTs on TCM used in cancer care were analyzed in this bibliometric study. Results: Of 5834 RCTs (477 157 cancer patients), only 62 RCTs were indexed in MEDLINE. The top 3 cancers treated were lung, stomach, and breast cancer. About 4752 RCTs (81.45%) tested TCM combined with conventional treatment, and 1082 RCTs (18.55%) used TCM alone for treating symptoms and side-effects. Herbal medicine was the most frequently used TCM modality (5087 RCTs; 87.20%). The most frequently reported outcome was symptom improvement (3712 RCTs; 63.63%) followed by quality of life (2725 RCTs; 46.71%), and biomarkers (2384 RCTs; 40.86%). The majority of RCTs (4051; 69.44%) concluded there were beneficial effects using either TCM alone or TCM plus conventional treatment compared with conventional treatment. Conclusion: Substantial randomized trials demonstrated different types/stages of cancer were treated by various TCM modalities, alone or in combination with conventional medicine. Further evaluation on the effects and safety of TCM modalities focusing on outcomes such as quality of life is required.