[Study on prevention and treatment of radiotherapy caused post-visual pathway injury in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients by traditional Chinese medicine].
OBJECTIVE
To study the effect of TCM in preventing and treating post-visual pathway injury caused by radiotherapy (RT) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).


METHODS
Thirty-five patients of NPC were randomly divided into the RT group (n = 17) and the RT + TCM group (n = 18), they were all received RT, but the latter was treated additionally with Jingming recipe, a Chinese recipe. The latent period and amplitude of evoked potential (EP) were measured before and after ending of RT, using multi-focusing visual evoked potential inspector.


RESULTS
The latent time of EP, both upper and lower visual field, was prolonged significantly after RT in the RT group (P < 0.05), but not in the RT + TCM group (P > 0.05); the amplitude of EP of upper visual field lowered significantly (P < 0.05) in the RT group but insignificantly in the RT + TCM group (P > 0.05); as for the EP amplitude of lower visual field, it was unaltered in RT group after RT (P > 0.05), but increased in the RT + TCM group (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The Chinese medicine Jingming recipe was effective in preventing and treating RT induced post-visual pathway injury.
Xu
Bo-ping
BP
Department of TCM, Tumor Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510060.
Long
Shi-xian
SX
Hu
Wei-han
WH
D000328:Adult; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D008517:Phytotherapy; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000293:injuries*
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal