Comparison of Improvement in 2-Year Survival Rate of Patients with Stage II-III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Different Durations of Chinese Patent Medicine: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: Chinese patent medicine is widely used among patients with malignant tumors, and current studies have shown that long-term treatment with Chinese patent medicine is related to improved outcomes of patients. Huisheng Oral Liquid is a kind of Chinese patent medicine with the effects of curing dispersion-thirst and dissipating blood stasis. However, little is known about how it affects the survival rate of patients. Thus, patients with stage II-III NSCLC (non-small-cell lung cancer) were chosen to participate in a retrospective cohort study, which was conducted to preliminarily investigate the effects of using Chinese patent medicine and Huisheng Oral Liquid for different treatment durations on patients’ 2-year survival rate and explore the prognostic factors affecting the 2-year survival rate of those patients.Purpose: This work compares the effect of different durations of treatment with Chinese patent medicine and Huisheng Oral Liquid on the 2-year survival rate of patients with stage II-III NSCLC and explores the prognostic factors of the patients' 2-year survival rate.Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients with non-small cell lung cancer stage II-III according to the 2015 NCCN Guidelines: Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to compare the 2-year survival rate of patients treated with different durations of Chinese medicine and Huisheng Oral Liquid. The relationship between different treatment durations and degree of improvement of 2-year survival rate was explored using the Cochran–Armitage trend test. The Cox proportional-hazards regression models were used to explore factors affecting the 2-year survival rate of patients.Results: A total of 614 patients with stage II-III NSCLC diagnosed from January 2015 to December 2018 were included in this study. Patients treated with Chinese patent medicine were divided into three groups by treatment durations: < 3 months, ≥ 3 months, and ≥6 months, and those treated with Huisheng Oral Liquid were divided into < 3 months and ≥3 and ≥6 months. The results showed that ① the 2-year survival rate of patients treated with Chinese patent medicine for ≥3 months and ≥6 months was higher than that of patients treated for <3 months and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Further analysis of Huisheng Oral Liquid treatment revealed that ② the 2-year survival rate of patients treated with Huisheng Oral Liquid for ≥3 months was higher than that of patients treated for <3 months (p < 0.05). Because the total number of patients treated with Huisheng Oral Liquid for ≥6 months and the number of patients with improved outcomes were too small, there was no statistically significant difference in the 2-year survival rate between the two groups (p > 0.05). The results of the Cochran–Armitage trend test showed that the 2-year survival rate tended to increase with the duration of Huisheng Oral Liquid treatment (p < 0.05). ③ The Cox proportional -hazards regression model revealed that among all 614 patients, surgery [HR = 0.48, 95% CI = (0.34, 0.68)], chemotherapy [HR = 0.46, 95% CI = (0.31,0.67)], and treatment with Huisheng Oral Liquid for ≥3 months were protective factors [HR = 0.48, 95%CI = (0.27,0.88)], whereas male gender [HR = 1.59, 95% CI = (1.01, 2.50)] and FIB ≥4 g/L [HR = 1.95, 95% CI = (1.37, 2.77)] were risk factors.Conclusion: Chinese patent medicine treatment for ≥3 months showed an improvement in the 2-year survival rate of patients with stage II-III NSCLC. Patients treated with Huisheng Oral liquid for ≥3 months also showed an improvement in the 2-year survival rate, and the 2-year survival rate tended to increase as the treatment duration increased. Finally, male and FIB ≥ 4 g/L were risk factors for prognosis.

A retrospective study on the effect of Chinese patent medicine combined with conventional treatment on the survival outcomes of 313 patients with stage II–III NSCLC

“…The median survival time of patients who received HSOS intervention more than 3 months was longer than that of patients who received HSOS less than 3 months. Patients with elevated preoperative FIB level (more than 4 g/L) and those did not undergo surgery had a higher probability of cancer death, which was consistent with our previous study [ 30 , 31 ]. Our previous study revealed that more than 3 months treatment of CPM/HSOS could improve 2-year survival rate of patients with stage II–III NSCLC, and preoperative FIB level more than 4 g/L was a risk factor for the prognosis [ 30 ].…”

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Detection and Subtyping by UPLC-HRMS-Based Tissue Metabolomics

“…For other samples between consecutive qc a and qc b , the correction factors F(i, sample) were obtained by linear interpolation between F(i, qc a ) and F(i, qc b ). (v) Features of each sample were divided into four parts 1 to 4 according to the magnitudes of peak areas: <10 4 , 10 4 − 10 5 , 10 5 −10 6 , and >10 6 . Peak areas in each part were normalized to the 10,000/sample for total useful signals.…”

“…Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death and the second most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide with an estimated 2.2 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths in 2020. , The major histological type of lung cancer is non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which accounts for about 85% . Main subtypes of NSCLC include adenocarcinoma (AC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and large cell carcinoma of the lungs, accounting for about 50, 35, and 15% in NSCLC patients, respectively. , The 5-year survival rate of NSCLC is merely 15% . Early detection of lung cancer can improve the 5-year survival rate to 55%, but this is difficult due to the hidden symptoms in its early stages, , and 70% of NSCLC patients were diagnosed at advanced stages …”

“…4,5 The 5-year survival rate of NSCLC is merely 15%. 6 Early detection of lung cancer can improve the 5year survival rate to 55%, but this is difficult due to the hidden symptoms in its early stages, 7,8 and 70% of NSCLC patients were diagnosed at advanced stages. 9 Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) and chest radiography are the current methods for lung cancer screening; 10 however, concerns such as false-positive results, overdiagnosis risk, and differences in selection criteria still remain.…”

A study on the survival prediction for patients with oral cancer in southwest China

“…Lymphocytes play an important role in the immune response of the body, while tumor proliferation is often accompanied by a decrease in lymphocytes, and a further increase in the likelihood of a poor prognosis as well (Kara et al, 2017). Fib prediction plays an important role in the prognosis of other malignant tumors (Mi et al, 2017; Sharma et al, 2021; Wang, Jia, et al, 2021; Wang, Wang, et al, 2021; Xu et al, 2021). In this study, the ROC curve was based on the preoperative Fib of patients with oral cancer in southwest China.…”