| OBJECTIVEGastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer and is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In China, there is a high incidence of gastric cancer and a younger trend of its onset. Therefore, gastric cancer has become and will continue to be a threat against the health of Chinese people. Gastric carcinoma is often diagnosed at an advanced stage without the opportunity for curative resection, and chemotherapy is the major treatment in clinical application. However, gastric cancer is not sensitive to chemotherapy while side effects of chemotherapy are severe. From the efficacy and safety point of view, the exploration of natural plant-based anti-cancer drugs is urgent. This research is under the guidance of key pathogenesis theory of "cold coagulation and blood stasis", while based on long-term clinical practice, as well as its function to inhibit growth and induce apoptosis of gastric cancer cell in previous research. Our study is to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Modified Liang-Fu Granule (MLFG), an herbal concoction, in treating advanced gastric cancer.METHODSData of research were from 42 patients with advanced gastric cancer treated between March 2009 and March 2010, with one case dropped. In this prospective randomized controlled clinical trial, all patients were randomly assigned to treatment group which received MLFG in addition to chemotherapy, or control group which got chemotherapy alone. Evaluation points were observed and recorded throughout four cycles of chemotherapy including signs and symptoms score, Karnofsky performance status, pain numerical rating scale, tumor size, blood and urine routine, liver and renal function, and electrocardiogram.RESULTSThe results showed that:①Compared with control group, there were significant improvements of clinical signs and symptoms in the treatment group, P<0.005. Symptoms such as stomach pain, abdominal distension, aversion to cold and loss of appetite were improved significantly, P<0.05.②The overall health status in the treatment group was significantly better than that in the control group, P<0.05.③Compared with the control group, white blood cell count, platelet count is relatively stable in the treatment group, while growing hemoglobin values are observed, though all of these trends were not statistically significant, P>0.05.④Compared with the control group, the treatment group tended to have a higher clinical remission rate without statistical significance, P>0.05.⑤MLFG were safe for clinical application.CONCLUSIONSThis study indicates that the MLFG can reduce the clinical symptoms and signs during chemotherapy, improve the quality of life, and may have some attenuated chemotherapy synergism. Those critical findings in our study suggest that MLFG is promising for a wide application in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. |
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