Insights & Discussion
Traditional Chinese Medicine when combined with Western methods, could improve survival rates in patients with colorectal cancer.
The study undertook a retrospective analysis of patients, newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer during 2004-2014, who were treated at Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital. With the help of the hospital's cancer registry database and medical records, patients were categorized into two groups: those who used Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) and those who did not. Survival rates between these groups were investigated with Kaplan-Meier analyses and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses.
The research findings indicated a noticeable difference between the survival rates of the CHM users and the non-users. Furthermore, four specific CHM formulae - Jia Wei Xiao Yao San, Zhi Bah Di Huang Wan, Ping Wei San and Qui Pi Tang - were noted as significantly associated with enhanced survival. Therefore, it seems that integrating Chinese Herbal Medicine with Western treatment protocols could enhance survival in patients afflicted with colorectal cancer.
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Adding Compound Kushen Injection (CKI), a traditional Chinese medicine, to chemotherapy treatment enhanced treatment response and reduced side effects in advanced colorectal cancer patients.
2024 Integrative Cancer Therapies Efficacy and Safety of Compound Kushen Injection for Advanced Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials with Trial Sequential Analysis Wu J, Ma X, Wang X, Zhu G, Wang H, Zhang Y, et al.
Meta-Analysis Colorectal Cancer Ku Shen
This study systematically collected data from a myriad of sources including, but not limited to, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov up to April 20, 2024. An assessment tool, ROB2, was used to measure the quality of the included trials, while data analysis was done using Stata 16. Publication bias was evaluated with the funnel plot and Egger's test. To calculate the final required sample size in this meta-analysis and verify whether the results presented a stable conclusion, trial sequential analysis was used.
The data collected from these sixteen trials, consisting of 1378 patients showcased that when compared to chemotherapy alone, the combination of CKI and chemotherapy resulted in improved response rates and enhancement of the patient's performance status. Furthermore, this combination therapy was associated with fewer adverse reactions like leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, gastrointestinal reactions, and liver damage. Patients also exhibited high CD4 ratios and comparatively low CD8 T cell ratios. A subgroup analysis further demonstrated that the response rates improved significantly when CKI was combined with specific chemotherapy regimens. Overall, this data strongly suggests that the addition of CKI to chemotherapy provided statistically significant and clinically relevant improvements in treatment response rates, patient wellbeing, reduction in adverse reactions, and enhanced immune function.
Crocin, a compound derived from saffron, has shown considerable potential in hindering tumor growth and improving immune status, across various malignant tumors.
2023 PeerJ Advances on the anti-tumor mechanisms of the carotenoid Crocin Bao X, Hu J, Zhao Y, Jia R, Zhang H, Xia L
Review Article Anti-Tumour Breast Cancer Cervical Cancer
The methodology for the study involved an in-depth review of modern pharmacological studies that have analyzed the therapeutic effects of crocin, a natural compound that can be extracted from saffron. Various anti-tumor effects were assessed including the induction of tumor cell death (apoptosis), restrictions on tumor cell proliferation, and potential barriers to invasion and metastasis of these cells. The potential for enhancement of sensitivity to chemotherapy and improvement of immune status were also examined.
Following the review, the study revealed that crocin has significant anti-tumor properties. It showed that this natural compound can induce apoptosis in tumor cells, inhibit their expansion and progression, and even prevent their invasiveness and metastasis. Furthermore, crocin demonstrated the potential to enhance the body’s responsiveness to chemotherapy and help boost the immune system. These effects were observed across a range of different malignant tumors, including stomach, liver, cervical, breast, and colorectal cancers.
Moderate consumption of carrots is associated with a lower incidence of colorectal cancer, implying a potential cancer prevention effect in a certain dose-range.
2022 Frontiers in Nutrition Association of Dietary Carrot/Carotene Intakes With Colorectal Cancer Incidence and Mortality in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial Jiang Z, Chen H, Li M, Wang W, Fan C, Long F
Cohort Study Carotene Carrot Colorectal Cancer
The research analysed the dietary intake of carrots/carotene and their relationship to colorectal cancer incidence and mortality in a cohort from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening. The study involved 101,680 participants who joined the cohort between November 1993 and July 2001. The hazard ratios were estimated through multivariable Cox regression analyses. Additionally, subgroup analyses and interaction tests were conducted to check for potential effect modifiers. A generalised additive model was used to examine the non-linear trend of the exposure to cancer-related outcomes.
In total, the study documented 1,100 colorectal cancer cases and 443 cancer-related deaths. It was discovered that dietary carrot intake was linked to a 21% lower risk of colorectal cancer incidence for those in the 4th quintile group compared to the lowest quintile group. Increase in carrot intakes, on a per standard deviation, did not reveal any statistically significant associations with the disease incidence. There were no significant associations found between dietary α-, and β-carotene intake and colorectal cancer incidence, nor were there any associations between carrot/carotene intakes and cancer mortality. They also observed no non-linear dose-response relationships between dietary carrot, α-, and β-carotene intake and colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. Notably, the study found that smoking status could potentially modify the association of dietary carrot intake with incidence of colorectal cancer, but not mortality.
Consuming chocolate with higher cocoa content can improve the nutritional status and functionality of older cancer patients in palliative care.
2022 BMC Palliative Care Effect of chocolate on older patients with cancer in palliative care: a randomised controlled study Vettori JC, da-Silva LG, Pfrimer K, Jordão AA, Louzada-Junior P, Moriguti JC, et al.
Clinical Study Cancer Chocolate Palliative Care
In the conducted study, 46 older cancer patients under palliative care were divided into three groups. The control group did not have a change in their diet (CG, 15 patients). The other two groups were given intervention foods—55% cocoa chocolate (IG1, 16 patients) and white chocolate (IG2, 15 patients)—for a duration of four weeks. The primary outcome was assessed based on changes in the patients' nutritional status, as measured by the Mini Nutritional Assessment tool. Other factors examined included food consumption, body measurements, body composition, laboratory parameters, and quality of life, using the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer instrument.
Discussion of the results revealed that the group consuming 55% cocoa chocolate showed an improvement in nutritional scores and functionality, as evidenced by the Mini Nutritional Assessment and the quality of life scores respectively. On the other hand, the group consuming white chocolate displayed decreased oxidative stress levels. However, body composition and anthropometric measurements remained largely unchanged across all three groups.
ST36 acupoint injections with dexamethasone outperforms conventional western medicine in treating chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression, significantly improving clinical efficacy and recovery.
2021 Frontiers in Oncology Zusanli (ST36) Acupoint Injection With Dexamethasone for Chemotherapy-Induced Myelosuppression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Chen J, Lin Z, Ding J
Systematic Review Myelosuppression ST36
The study executed a systematic evaluation of the efficacy of ST36 acupoint injection with dexamethasone in treating chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression. A total of 17 randomized controlled trials from eight different databases were extracted for this meta-analysis. A detailed examination and analysis of various data gathered were performed using the Cochrane Collaboration tool for bias, Excel 2010 for creating an information extraction database, and RevMan 5.3.0 software for analyzing test data. The quality of evidence was graded using GRADE profiler 3.6 software.
The results indicated that compared to conventional western medicine, ST36 acupoint injection with dexamethasone vastly improved the clinical aggregate effective rate. Notably, it increased the white blood cell count and hemoglobin levels in patients, further enhancing their Karnofsky performance status. The treatment also shortened the recovery time of myelosuppression. However, there were no significant differences observed in platelet elevation between the ST36 acupoint injection with dexamethasone and conventional western medicine.
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