Chinese Medicine Injections in Treatment of Esophageal Cancer： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Esophageal cancer has a high morbidity and mortality worldwide， and the burden of esophageal cancer is still heavy in China. The conventional treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy fail to yield a satisfactory outcome， implying that the safe and effective treatments are not available for the majority of patients. At present， esophageal cancer is mainly treated by Chinese medicine combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The retrieval of related papers in Chinese and English reveals that Kang'ai injection， Compound Kushen injection， Kanglaite injection， Xiaoaiping injection， Aidi injection， Bruceae Fructus Oil Emulsion， Cinobufotalin injection， and Shenmai injection have been commonly used in esophageal cancer treatment. These eight injections are either single medicinal or compound preparations， involving 11 Chinese medicinals， which synergize the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy and reduce their adverse reactions in the treatment of esophageal cancer. Due to the complexity of Chinese medicinal components， a series of adverse reactions such as phlebitis， phlebosclerosis， and hemolysis may be caused by irrational dosage， administration speed， and compatibility in the use of injection. There are many clinical studies on Chinese medicine injections for anti-esophageal cancer but few studies on their active components and molecular mechanism. This paper reviewed the active components， effectiveness， safety， and mechanism of Chinese medicine injections frequently employed for treating esophageal cancer， in order to provide reference for their clinical application as well as the development of new Chinese drugs.