title: Research advances in traditional Chinese medicine syndromes in cancer patients.
abstract: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome, also known as TCM ZHENG or TCM pattern, is an integral and essential part of TCM theory that helps to guide the design of individualized treatments. A TCM syndrome, in essence, is a characteristic profile of all clinical manifestations in one patient that can be readily identified by a TCM practitioner. In this article, the authors reviewed the presentations of TCM syndromes in seven common malignancies (liver, lung, gastric, breast, colorectal, pancreatic and esophageal cancers), the objectivity and the standardization of TCM syndrome differentiation, the evaluation of TCM syndrome modeling in cancer research, and syndrome differentiation-guided TCM treatment of cancers. A better understanding of TCM syndrome theory, as well as its potential biological basis, may contribute greatly to the clinical TCM diagnosis and the treatment of cancer.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine Complexity System, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.|Department of Medical Oncology, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Department of Liver and Gallbladder Surgery, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Yun-quan
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Seventh People's Hospital of Shanghai, Shanghai 200137, China.
authors.forename: Wen-hai
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine Complexity System, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Shi-bing
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Su
mesh_terms: D057225:Data Mining; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D057285:Precision Medicine