Te-Chien Ku1, Pin-Han Wang2, Jhen-Ling Huang3, Hsing-Yu Chen4, Ji-Tseng Fang5, Hsi-Lung Hsieh6, Jiun-Liang Chen7. 1. Division of Chinese Internal Medicine, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: k486901991@hotmail.com. 2. Division of Chinese Internal Medicine, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: eevelyn1980@gmail.com. 3. Center for Big Data Analytics and Statistics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: cratwoy0309@gmail.com. 4. Division of Chinese Internal Medicine, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: inferior.2@gmail.com. 5. Kidney Research Center, Department of Nephrology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: fangjits@gmail.com. 6. Department of Nursing, Division of Basic Medical Sciences, Research Center for Chinese Herbal Medicine, And Graduate Institute of Health Industry Technology, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: hlhsieh@mail.cgust.edu.tw. 7. Division of Chinese Internal Medicine, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: a12015@cgmh.org.tw.
Abstract
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: External-use traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) agents are widely used to relieve the adverse effects of radiation therapy in nasopharyngeal cancer patients. AIM OF THE STUDY: Our study aimed to evaluate the influence of external-use TCM agents to relieve radiotherapy-related adverse effects on the efficacy of radiation therapy and the prognosis of nasopharyngeal cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: By using the Chang Gung Research Database (CGRD), we analyzed 1823 newly diagnosed nasopharyngeal cancer patients with radiotherapy-related adverse effects between 2001/01 and 2015/12. We used Kaplan-Meier analysis and a Cox regression model to estimate the differences in effects on survival outcomes between two groups, TCM external users and non-TCM external users. RESULTS: We found that TCM external users had significantly better 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates (log-rank test, p = 0.0377 and p = 0.034, respectively) than non-TCM external users. The 3-year and 5-year disease-free survival rates were not statistically significantly different between the groups. We also found a trend of improved 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates in TCM external users with advanced-stage disease, without statistical significance (log-rank test, p = 0.10 and p = 0.089, respectively). The subgroup analysis revealed lower risks of mortality in TCM external users among the nonhypertension, nonhyperlipidemia, nonischemic heart disease, noncirrhosis, and nonchronic kidney disease groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that TCM agents external use could significantly improve 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates in nasopharyngeal cancer patients with radiotherapy-related adverse effects.
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: External-use traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) agents are widely used to relieve the adverse effects of radiation therapy in nasopharyngeal cancer patients. AIM OF THE STUDY: Our study aimed to evaluate the influence of external-use TCM agents to relieve radiotherapy-related adverse effects on the efficacy of radiation therapy and the prognosis of nasopharyngeal cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: By using the Chang Gung Research Database (CGRD), we analyzed 1823 newly diagnosed nasopharyngeal cancer patients with radiotherapy-related adverse effects between 2001/01 and 2015/12. We used Kaplan-Meier analysis and a Cox regression model to estimate the differences in effects on survival outcomes between two groups, TCM external users and non-TCM external users. RESULTS: We found that TCM external users had significantly better 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates (log-rank test, p = 0.0377 and p = 0.034, respectively) than non-TCM external users. The 3-year and 5-year disease-free survival rates were not statistically significantly different between the groups. We also found a trend of improved 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates in TCM external users with advanced-stage disease, without statistical significance (log-rank test, p = 0.10 and p = 0.089, respectively). The subgroup analysis revealed lower risks of mortality in TCM external users among the nonhypertension, nonhyperlipidemia, nonischemic heart disease, noncirrhosis, and nonchronic kidney disease groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that TCM agents external use could significantly improve 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates in nasopharyngeal cancer patients with radiotherapy-related adverse effects.