title: Multi-center randomized double-blind controlled clinical study of chemotherapy combined with or without traditional Chinese medicine on quality of life of postoperative non-small cell lung cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a widely applied complementary therapy for cancer patients. It can reduce the chemical drugs induced toxic effects to improve the quality of life (QOL). This study applies the highest quality of clinical trial methodology to examine the role of TCM in improving QOL of postoperative non-small-cell lung cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study is a multi-center, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. Four hundred eighty patients will be recruited into seven different research centers in China. These patients that meet the inclusion criteria will be randomized into either a treatment group or a placebo group. Each group will receive treatments of 3-weekly chemotherapy with TCM or placebo for four cycles. The primary outcome will involve the evaluation of QOL and the secondary outcome assessments will include two-year disease-free survival rate and disease-free survival. Other efficacy assessments are changes of TCM symptoms and toxicity. Side effects and safety profile of the therapy would be evaluated at the same time. The investigators expect that TCM therapy combined with chemotherapy is superior to chemotherapy solely in terms of QOL improvement and disease-free survival extension. "Intention-to-treat" analysis will include all randomized participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results from the clinical trial will provide evidence for the effectiveness of chemotherapy combined with or without TCM in QOL of postoperative NSCLC patients.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Clinical Trials.gov (Identifier: NCT01441752).
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of TCM, 725 Wanping road, Shanghai 200032, China. liujiaxiang2012@126.com.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: HeGen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: ZhenYe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: ZhongQi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: LingShuang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: JianHui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: JianLi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: YiLin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: LiJing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.forename: Wan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: HuiRu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: PeiQi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: JiaXiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D057194:Intention to Treat Analysis; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008517:Phytotherapy; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011788:Quality of Life
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal