The survival outcome of nasopharyngeal cancer patients with traditional Chinese medicine external use: A hospital-based study

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2021.114380
• Publication Date: 2021-06-29T04:18:08Z
• Authors: Te-Chien Ku; Pin-Han Wang; Jhen-Ling Huang; Hsing-Yu Chen; Ji-Tseng Fang; Hsi-Lung Hsieh; Jiun-Liang Chen
• Keywords: Adult; Male; 0301 basic medicine; Inpatients; Adolescent; Radiotherapy; Administration, Topical; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms; Middle Aged; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; 3. Good health; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; Humans; Female; Drugs, Chinese Herbal

External-use traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) agents are widely used to relieve the adverse effects of radiation therapy in nasopharyngeal cancer patients.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.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.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.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.