title: Survival Benefits of Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment for Patients With Pancreatic Cancer.
abstract: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the most common complementary and alternative medicines used in the treatment of patients with cancer worldwide. However, the clinical effect of TCM on patients with pancreatic cancer remains unclear. This study was aimed to explore the efficacy of TCM on selected patients with pancreatic cancer and to study the usefulness of multimodality treatment, including TCM and western medicine (WM), in pancreatic cancer.From January 2009 to October 2013, 107 patients with pancreatic cancer were included in this study. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to assess the differences in survival time. Cox regression analysis was performed to determine survival trends adjusted for clinical and demographic factors.Cox regression analysis suggested that elevated CA19-9 levels (P = 0.048), number of cycles of chemotherapy (P = 0.014), and TCM were independent prognostic factors (P < 0.001). The survival hazards ratio of TCM was 0.419 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.261-0.671). The median overall survival (OS) was 19 months for patients with TCM treatment, while the median OS was 8 months for those without TCM treatment (P < 0.001). Patients who received multimodality treatment using TCM and WM had the best prognosis with a median OS of 19 months (P < 0.001). Patients with heat-clearing, diuresis-promoting and detoxification TCM treatment had a longer survival time (32.4 months) than those with blood-activating and stasis-dissolving (9.8 months) and tonifying qi and yang treatment (6.1 months; P = 0.008).These results indicate that TCM has an important potential value for improving the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer, and multimodality treatment, including TCM and WM, leads to the best prognosis. More importantly, we suggest that heat-clearing, diuresis-promoting, and detoxification TCM treatment may improve the efficacy of TCM in pancreatic cancer.
authors.affiliation: From Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin, China (XY, JH, Y-YN, X-LD, X-ZW); Zhong-Shan-Men In-Patient Department, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China (C-HZ, CL).
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Cui-Hong
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Yang-Yang
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Xiu-Li
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiong-Zhi
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008517:Phytotherapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal