ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment according to syndrome differentiation on acute radio-reaction (ARR) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and ninety-five NPC patients who received radiotherapy (RT) for the first time were randomly assigned to two groups: the control group (89 cases) was treated by RT alone for 7 weeks and the treatment group (106 cases) was treated by RT combined with oral taking TCM from starting of RT till 5 weeks after RT. The overall changes in total ARR score and ARR in different locations were observed weekly and compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The total ARR score in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). And the ARR scores of different organs, including skin, oropharyngeal mucosa, salivary glands, larynx, car, upper digestive tract, and central nervous system, in the treatment group were all lower than those of the corresponding organs in the control group. In addition, the ARR scores in both groups showed an ascending trend in the first 7 weeks and a descending trend from the 8th to the 10th week after beginning RT.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TCM treatment could relieve the ARR in the NPC patients without any affection on the efficacy of RT.</p>