Cancer Impact, Complementary/Alternative Medicine Beliefs, and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients

Yc, Kuo; Tsay, Shiow‐Luan; Chang, Chun Chi; Liao, Yen Chi; Tung, Heng Hsin

doi:10.1089/acm.2016.0396

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…However, despite rapid effects, the drug is not suitable for long-term use in all patients owing to its high cost and secondary malignancy risk ( Lyman et al, 2013 ; Lyman, et al, 2018 ). Thus, increasing number of patients have turned to complementary and alternative medicines to control symptoms and improve the QOL ( Kuo et al, 2018 ; Knecht et al, 2020 ). CHM has received considerable research attention over the past few years and is widely applied following chemotherapy for various cancer types.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chinese Herbal Medicine for Chemotherapy-Induced Leukopenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Quality Randomized Controlled Trials

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Pharmacol.

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Aim: We conducted a systematic review of high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced leukopenia (CIL).Methods: Eight electronic databases were searched from the date of inception to November 4, 2020 for high-quality RCTs that met the requirements of at least four key domains of the Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) tool. RevMan 5.3 was applied for the meta-analysis.Results: Fourteen RCTs involving 1,053 patients were included. The pooled results showed that CHM + chemotherapy exerted greater beneficial effects on white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil (NEU), hemoglobin (Hb), and platelet (PLT) counts in addition to the Karnofsky performance scale (KPS) score, but showed no significant difference on granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) dosage compared with chemotherapy alone. Placebo (PBO) + chemotherapy and CHM + chemotherapy groups showed no significant differences in terms of reduction of the incidence of neutropenia. CHM + chemotherapy was superior to Western medicine (WM) + chemotherapy in improving the WBC count, KPS, infection amount, G-CSF use rate, and incidence of leukopenia. In addition, no severe adverse events were observed in the 14 RCTs.Conclusion: CHM in combination with chemotherapy could effectively improve the clinical symptoms of CIL when compared with chemotherapy alone or Western medicine + chemotherapy, except when comparing with PBO + chemotherapy. While CHMs were generally safe for clinical use and exerted no severe side effects in the 14 RCTs, high-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes are essential to reduce study heterogeneity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chinese Herbal Medicine for Chemotherapy-Induced Leukopenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Quality Randomized Controlled Trials

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Pharmacol.

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“…The clinical use and assessment of the potential benefits of the complementary therapies in the treatment of cancer patients has recently increased in both pediatric (18)(19)(20)(21)(22) and adult patients (23)(24)(25)(26) . Among the manipulation practices based on the body, the therapeutic massage stands out as the most commonly used complementary therapy modality (41)(42) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The NCCAM categorizes them mainly as: use of natural products; body and mind practices; and body-based manipulation practices (17) . Over the past three decades, the use of CTs has increased considerably both in pediatric patients (18)(19)(20)(21)(22) and in the adult population (23)(24)(25)(26) . However, the efficacy of the CTs for cancer pain management in adults with cancer in palliative care is still a gap in the scientific literature (11) .…”

Section: The National Center For Complementary Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of the complementary therapies in the management of cancer pain in palliative care: A systematic review

Lopes-Júnior

Rosa

Pessanha

et al. 2020

Rev. Latino-Am. Enfermagem

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Objective: to synthesize the knowledge and to critically evaluate the evidences arising from randomized controlled trials on the efficacy of the complementary therapies in the management of cancer pain in adult patients with cancer in palliative care. Method: a systematic review guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The search for articles in the MEDLINE, ISI Web of Knowledge, CENTRAL Cochrane, and PsycINFO databases, as well as the manual search, selection of studies, data extraction, and methodological assessment using the Cochrane Bias Risk tool were performed independently by two reviewers. Results: eight hundred and fifteen (815) studies were identified, six of them being selected and analyzed, of which three used massage therapy, one study used a combination of progressive muscle relaxation and guided imaging, and another two studies used acupuncture. Most of the studies had an uncertain risk of bias (n=4; 67%). Conclusion: while the evidence from the studies evaluating the use of massage therapy or the use of progressive muscle relaxation and guided imaging for the management of cancer pain in these patients demonstrated significant benefits, the other two studies that evaluated the use of acupuncture as a complementary therapy showed contradictory results, therefore, needing more research studies to elucidate such findings.

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“…Numerous patients who do not respond to traditional therapies frequently seek adjuvant and alternative medical treatments in the hope of reducing tumor size and enhancing immunity (3). In Western high-income countries, the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in patients with cancer is as high as 91% (4,5). Immunostimulants can enhance the body's immunity, and one of the research directions of CAM is to find safe and effective immune stimulants that can be used in clinical practice to prevent diseases (6,7).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of immune responses in mice to oral administration of Flor�Essence

Liu

et al. 2020

mol clin onc

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Flor•Essence (FE), a natural food grade herbal formula product manufactured by Flora Manufacturing & Distributing Ltd., has been used by patients with cancer in North America to stimulate immune cells in order to attenuate or reverse immune damage. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying the effects of FE on the immune system, spleen lymphocyte proliferation was analyzed by an MTT assay, and the phagocytic capacity of macrophages was measured via the neutral red phagocytosis method. The cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cells towards K562 cells was assessed via a CytoTox 96 assay. The production of the cytokines interleukin (IL)-12 and interferon (IFN)-γ in the peripheral blood was determined via ELISA and PCR analysis. The expression levels of caveolin-1 and NF-κB were measured via western blotting. In addition, cyclophosphamide was used to establish a mouse model of immunosuppression. It was found that the proliferation of splenocytes, the phagocytic capacity of macrophages and the cytotoxicity of NK cells against K562 cells were increased after oral administration of FE to mice. FE augmented the production of IL-12 and IFN-γ in the peripheral blood of mice. FE significantly increased the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and caveolin-1, and decreased NF-κB expression. Finally, FE enhanced the viability of immune cells from cyclophosphamide-treated immunosuppressed mice. The results indicated that FE could activate immune responses and enhance natural immunity, suggesting that oral administration of FE can activate the body's immune response and resist damage caused by cyclophosphamide chemotherapy.

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Cancer Impact, Complementary/Alternative Medicine Beliefs, and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients

Abstract: This study supports research on the impact of cancer, belief in CAM, and use of CAM as related to QOL in cancer patients. These results can be used to provide options to clinicians and cancer patients.

Cited by 15 publications

References 33 publications

Chinese Herbal Medicine for Chemotherapy-Induced Leukopenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Quality Randomized Controlled Trials

Chinese Herbal Medicine for Chemotherapy-Induced Leukopenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Quality Randomized Controlled Trials

Efficacy of the complementary therapies in the management of cancer pain in palliative care: A systematic review

Study of immune responses in mice to oral administration of Flor�Essence

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