title: Hangeshashinto improves the completion rate of chemoradiotherapy and the nutritional status in patients with head and neck cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Severe oral and pharyngeal mucositis is one of the most critical toxicities known to lead to the discontinuation of chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for head and neck cancer (HNC). Hangeshashinto (TJ-14) is a Kampo medicine that relieves chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. We investigated the effect of TJ-14 on mucositis, nutritional status, and the completion rate of CRT.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group comprised patients with advanced HNC who were treated with concomitant weekly cisplatin and 70 Gy of radiotherapy. The primary endpoint was the completion rate of chemotherapy, and the secondary endpoints were the grade of mucositis and the nutritional status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 57 patients were included in this study. The completion rate of CRT among patients who were treated with TJ-14 was 91.4%. There was a significant difference in the completion rate of CRT between the groups treated with and without TJ-14 (p = 0.0452). The reduction in body weight was significantly improved from 10.89 to 5.89% with TJ-14 administration (p = 0.003), and the reduction in serum albumin was also significantly decreased from 17.37 to 8.73%. (p = 0.024).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This therapy allowed a high completion rate of CRT as well as significant benefits in terms of nutritional status. We plan to carry out a further large-scale study of TJ-14.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiromitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hatakeyama
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oridate
authors.forename: Rinnosuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuramoto
authors.forename: Keishi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukuda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001823:Body Composition; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000009:adverse effects; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D052016:Mucositis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000187:drug effects*; D010349:Patient Compliance
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C088236:hange-shashinto; D002945:Cisplatin