Effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Chemotherapy-Induced Myelosuppression and Febrile Neutropenia in Breast Cancer Patients.
Title. Chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression lowers the quality of life in breast cancer patients and causes many complications. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a widely used complementary and alternative medicine therapies. Objective. To study whether TCM can reduce the incidence of chemotherapy-induced leukopenia, neutropenia, and febrile neutropenia (FN) in breast cancer patients. Methods. The data were analyzed retrospectively between patients who received TCM treatment (group 1, n = 453) and patients who did not receive TCM treatment (group 2, n = 359). Significant risk factors associated with the occurrence of chemotherapy-induced leukopenia, neutropenia, and FN were identified using multivariate analysis. Propensity score-matched patients were analyzed to adjust for any baseline differences. Results. Group 1 patients had a significantly lower rate of chemotherapy-induced severe leukopenia, neutropenia, and FN, compared with group 2 (43% versus 71%, P < 0.0001, 72% versus 78%, P = 0.005, 6% versus 24%, P < 0.0001, resp.). Multivariate analysis revealed that chemotherapy regimens containing anthracyclines combined with paclitaxel or docetaxel were the most significant predictor. Subgroup analysis indicated that TCM treatment showed benefit in relieving chemotherapy-induced leukopenia and FN in most chemotherapy regimens. Conclusions. TCM treatment could lower the risk of severe chemotherapy-induced leukopenia, neutropenia, and FN in breast cancer patients.
Department of Breast Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 107 Yanjiangxi Road, Guangzhou 510120, China ; Department of Breast Surgery, Guangdong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine University of Guangzhou, 111 Dade Road, Guangzhou 510120, China.
Huan
H
Tian
Department of Hepatic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou 510630, China.
Wei
W
Qin
Department of Breast Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 107 Yanjiangxi Road, Guangzhou 510120, China.
Wenjing
W
Wu
Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshaner Road, Guangzhou 510080, China.
Pi
P
Guo
Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshaner Road, Guangzhou 510080, China.
Yong
Y
Lu
Department of Breast Surgery, Guangdong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine University of Guangzhou, 111 Dade Road, Guangzhou 510120, China.
Pengxi
P
Liu
Department of Breast Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 107 Yanjiangxi Road, Guangzhou 510120, China.
Qiang
Q
Liu
Department of Breast Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 107 Yanjiangxi Road, Guangzhou 510120, China.
Fengxi
F
Su