Influence of xlaoliu baofei pill combined with chemotherapy on quality of life of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To objectively assess the influence of Xiaoliu Baofei Pill (XBP) combined with chemotherapy on quality of life (QOL) of patients with stage III-IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty NSCLC patients were equally randomized into 2 groups, the treated group treated with XBP plus chemotherapy, and the control group treated with chemotherapy alone. Patients' QOL was assessed by Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-L) before and after treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The scores of the physical condition in the treated group was relatively stable while it lowered significantly as time went by in the control group, significant difference was shown as compared with before treatment and with that in the treated group at the same time points (P < 0.05); scores of the mood condition, the function conditions and additional concerned condition were improved gradually from the 3rd collection in the treated group, but decreased in the control group, although some improvement of mood and function conditions had revealed temporarily in the early stage of treatment. Comparison between groups showed significant difference (P < 0.05). Besides, no significant change was found in domains of patient-doctor relation and society/family condition in both groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>XBP combined with chemotherapy can obviously improve the QOL of advanced NSCLC patients.</p>

Analysis of short-term therapeutic efficacy of integrated traditional and Western medicine in treating non-small cell lung cancer / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the short-term therapeutic efficacy of integrated traditional and Western medicine (ITWM) in treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in III and IV phase.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Adopting the prospective, multi-centered, randomized and controlled method for clinical research, 324 patients who conformed to the enrolling standard were divided by ratio of 1:1:1 into the Chinese medicine (CM) group (n= 99), the ITWM group (n 03) and the Western medicine (WM) (n=92) group. The excluded or dropping off cases were 10 in CM, 6 in ITWM and 14 in WM. Clinical trials were conducted in 6 hospitals and 3 months of treatment was taken as one therapeutic course. The main observation indexes were tumor size, Karnofsky scores, body weight, adverse reaction, etc.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The total effective rate of tumor remission in the 3 groups was 4.0%, 26.2%, and 14.1%, respectively, statistical significance was shown in the difference among them (chi = 21.72, P = 0.000 < 0.017). The total tumor stabilization rate was 66.7 , 81.6%, and 76.1 , respectively, by rectification test, no significance was shown in difference among them (chi2 = 6.052, P = 0.049 > 0.017). Karnofsky scoring showed that after 90 days of treatment, Karnofsky score raised in the CM and ITWM group, but lowered in the WM group, paired t-test showed significant difference in the ITWM group before and after treatment. The Karnofsky score in IWTM was higher than that in CM and WM with significant difference (H = 10.572, P = 0.000 < 0.05). The patients' body weight in the 3 groups were all reduced. The reduction in the CM and ITWM group was lower than that in WM group, among which, significant difference was shown in CM and WM group when compared with the same group before treatment (P < 0.05). The effect in the ITWM and CM group was better than that in WM group in aspects of improving such tumor related symptoms as cough, short breath, anorexia, fatigue, etc. Observation of adverse reaction showed that lesser hemotoxicity of III and IV grade appeared in the CM and ITWM group than that in the WM group, and significant difference was shown in counts of white blood cells, granulocytes, platelets hemoglobin, etc. among the 3 groups (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>ITWM therapy showed better short-term efficacy in treating patients with NSCLC than CM or WM alone, showing the superiority of ITWM therapy. It can be adopted as an effective therapeutic program with low-toxicity.</p>