• CAM-summaries
  • Alternative medical systems
    • Acupuncture for nausea
    • TCM for pancreatic cancer
      • What is TCM?
      • How well does TCM work?
      • Is TCM safe?
      • TCM conclusions
  • Biologically-based practices
  • Diet & nutrition
  • Energy medicine
  • Manipulative & body-based practices
  • Mind-body medicine
• CAM systematic reviews
• CAM and the law
• Prevalence of CAM use

How well does TCM work?

Chinese herbal medicine has been claimed to be able to improve survival and relieve pain and symptoms in pancreatic cancer patients. Our searches in Chinese literature databases identified 13 clinical studies on herbal therapy for pancreatic cancer, including one randomised controlled trial and 12 case series or case reports (ref 5-17).

The three-arm randomised trial compared the herbal remedy Shenqi Yiai Ye with cytokine (interleukin-II and gamma-interferon) or chemotherapy in 82 patients with liver cancer and pancreas cancer, who were in their advanced stage and not suitable for surgery (ref 5). The trial showed beneficial effects for herbs (28 cases) and cytokine (24 cases) therapy on survival and an improvement in symptoms compared to chemotherapy (30 cases) (average survival time 11.3 months for herbal therapy, 9.5 months for cytokine therapy, and 8.5 months for chemotherapy, respectively). However, this trial suffered from methodological flaws in terms of randomisation, blinding and withdrawal.

One case series study treated 42 patients with medium or advanced pancreatic cancer using individualised formulations of herbs. The five-year survival rate was 4.8%, two-year survival was 50%, and one-year survival was 90.5% (ref 6).

Other uncontrolled studies have claimed beneficial effects for herbal therapy, either used alone or in combination with chemotherapy, on increasing survival, improving symptoms, relieving pain, or reducing the dosage of pain killing drugs (ref 7-17). However, these studies lack scientific robustness due to a lack of controls.

An in vitro study on two Chinese herbal formulations in pancreatic cancer cell lines showed a growth inhibition effect. The authors recommended further in vivo and clinical therapeutic studies (ref 18).

Biologic mechanism

As active ingredients from the herbal preparations are largely undefined, biologic mechanism of the potential effect has not been clearly elucidated.

References

5. Li Q, Lei ZM, Zheng XM, et al. Clinical observation of Shenqi Yiai Ye and cytokine for treatment of advanced liver cancer and pancreatic cancer. Henan Journal of Oncology 1999;12(1):27-9.

6. Yang BK. Clinical observation of 42 cases of pancreatic cancer treated by Chinese medicine. Zhejiang Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 1988;5(3):44.

7. Liu HX, Liu XZ. Therapeutic observation of Chinese medicine for treatment of pancreatic cancer. Chinese Journal of Clinical Oncology and Rehabilitation 1996;(2):77-8.

8. Wang QC, Zhang L, Li S. Treatment of 13 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer by Chinese medicine. Sichuan Journal of Chinese Medicine 1996;(10):20-1.

9. You JL, Zhao JF. Tiaopi Yiyi formula for treatment of 42 cases of advanced pancreatic cancer. Zhejiang Journal of Chinese Medicine 2000;35(6):238.

10. Wu YM, Shi SZ. Clinical observation of Jinlong capsule plus herbal medicine for treatment of 21 cases of pancreatic cancer at medium or late stage. Beijing Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2002;21(6):349-51.

11. Yang BK, Huo JG, Cao ZJ. Clinical observation of 68 case mid-late pancreatoblastoma treated by the traditional Chinese medicine. Chinese Journal of Basic Medicine in Traditional Chinese Medcine 2002;8(4):56-8.

12. Yang BK, Lu JX. Treatment experience of one case of pancreatic cancer. Shanghai Journal of Chinese Medicine 1995;(8):13.

13. Han XZ. Therapeutic observation of one case of pancreatic cancer treated by integrated traditional and western medicine. Journal of Practical Chinese Internal Medicine 1990;(2):29.

14. Li ZY, Hou P, Chen PJ, et al. Dual-cathetery of chemotherapy combined with Chinese medicine for treatment of 35 cases of pancreatic cancer. Academic Journal of Harbin Medical University 1997; 31(2): 153-5.

15. He YH, Dong HT, Wang P, Pu BK, Sun GZ, Lin HS. Oral taking of Gexia Zhuyu Tang combined with transcathetery artery infusion for treatment of 26 cases of advanced pancreatic cancer. Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine in Surgery 2001;7(2): 81-2.

16. Liu LM, Wu LC, Yang WH, et al. Clinical observation on 56 cases of advanced pancreatic cancer for treatment of pain with integrated Chinese and western medicine. Conference Proceeding of the Eighth National Conference of Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine for Cancer. May 2000:109. Qingdao, China.

17. Kong ZZ, Huang T. Clinical observation of Tong Xue Kang for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer with pain. Conference Proceeding of the Eighth National Conference of Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine for Cancer. May 2000:109-110. Qingdao, China.

18. Schwarz RE, Donohue CA, Sadava D, Kane SE. Pancreatic cancer in vitro toxicity mediated by Chinese herbs SPES and PC-SPES: implications for monotherapy and combination treatment. Cancer Lett 2003;189(1):59-68.