ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the therapeutic effect of shenqi fanghou recipe (SFR) in preventing and treating radiation injury in patients with head and neck tumor.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and forty patients with head and neck tumor, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma, carcinoma of tonsil or tongue, were randomly divided into 2 groups, 70 patients in the observed group were given modified SFR as adjuvant to radiotherapy, while 70 patients in the control group were treated with radiotherapy alone. The radiation reactions during radiotherapy and the condition of late stage radiation injury radiotherapy in patients in the 2 groups were observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The degree of oropharyngeal mucosa reaction, dryness in mouth and radiation dermatitis in cervical region in the observed group was milder than those in the control group, and the radiation injury induced late stage sequelae, such as the degree of mouth-opening was better and the cervical muscular sclerosis was better in the observed group than in the control group, showing significant difference (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>SFR has definite effect in preventing and treating radiation reaction and late stage radiation injury in patients with head and neck tumor.</p>