Effects of Integrated Chinese Traditional Medicine and Conventional Western Medicine on the Quality of Life of Breast Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background. Traditional Chinese medicine has been widely used, in conjunction with conventional Western medicine, in clinical practice around the world to treat breast cancer. The study systematically reviewed and summarized the quality of life of breast cancer patients treated with integrated treatment method vs. conventional Western medicine. Methods. Eight databases including PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medicine Disc, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, and Wanfang Data knowledge service platform were searched in this study. The retrieval period was set from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2020. Results. Twenty-two high-quality publications were included in this study. The total sample size was 1689 patients including 844 in the intervention group receiving traditional Chinese medicine combined with conventional Western medicine and 845 patients in the control group receiving conventional Western medicine only. Compared with the single-used conventional Western medicine treatment, an integrated approach to treat breast cancer can increase quality of life measured by rating scales (SMD = 1.29, 95% CI (1.07, 1.52) and P = 0.01 ) and ranking scales (RR = 1.53, 95% CI (1.39 1.68) and P = 0.02 ) and also decrease adverse reactions measured by rating scales (Z = 10.89, P < 0.05 ; Group 1: I2 = 9.0%, P = 0.258 , SMD = 1.03; and Group 2: I2 = 31.6%, P = 0.199 , SMD = 1.56). For further analysis, chemotherapy with epirubicin exhibited higher quality of life than the chemotherapy without epirubicin among breast cancer patients [Z = 19.80, P < 0.05 ; Group 1: I2 = 62.4%, P = 0.070 , SMD = 1.61; and Group 2: I2 = 9.0%, P = 0.359 , SMD = 1.04]. Despite the heterogeneity, which was due to a portion of relative low-quality literature or other factors, the results were satisfactory. In terms of secondary results, the patients with lower tumor markers (CEA and CA153) had better efficiency in quality of life with a statistically significant difference (SMD = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.10,1.67) for rating scales. In addition, secondary results related to high incidence of gastrointestinal adverse reactions (RR = 1.33, 95% CI (1.20, 1.48)) and the traditional Chinese medicine syndrome (RR = 1.50, 95% CI (1.28, 1.80))showed lower quality of life in the intervention group than the control group for ranking scales. Conclusion. Traditional Chinese medicine, when used in conjunction with the conventional Western medicine, could be an effective way in improving the quality of life and alleviating incidence of associated adverse symptoms such as gastrointestinal adverse reactions, value of tumor markers, and the incidence of traditional Chinese medicine syndrome. Further investigation of larger and methodologically sound trials with longer follow-up periods and appropriate comparison groups is needed.

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The Correlation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Deficiency Syndromes, Cancer Related Fatigue, and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Patients

Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine ◽

10.1016/s2225-4110(16)30101-8 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 204-210 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Tsai-Ju Chien ◽

You-Lung Song ◽

Che-Pin Lin ◽

Chung-Hua Hsu

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

Chinese Medicine ◽

Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

Cancer Related Fatigue

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The Traditional Chinese Medicine Kangai Injection as an Adjuvant Method in Combination with Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Breast Cancer in Chinese Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine ◽

10.1155/2018/6305645 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jing-Xian Xue ◽

Zhi-Yuan Zhu ◽

Wei-He Bian ◽

Chang Yao

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Chinese Medicine ◽

Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽

Chinese Population ◽

Adverse Reactions ◽

Life Quality ◽

Chinese Patients ◽

Cochrane Library ◽

Breast Cancer Patients

Objective. The traditional Chinese medicine Kangai injection as an adjuvant method in combination with chemotherapy has been widely used for treating breast cancer in clinical practice in China. This study systematically reviewed the clinical effect and safety of traditional Chinese medicine Kangai injection as an adjuvant method in combination with chemotherapy for treating Chinese patients with breast cancer. Methods. Seven databases were searched in this study, namely, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, Sino Med, VIP, and Wanfang Data. The timeframe of retrieval was set from the founding date of each database to November 1, 2017. Results. Fifteen papers were included in this study. The quality of all the studies included was low. All the studies were carried out among the Chinese population. Meta-analyses showed that, compared with single-use chemotherapy, using a Kangai injection combined with chemotherapy to treat Chinese breast cancer patient can increase the total effective rate [RR = 1.15, 95% CI (1.01, 1.32), and P=0.033], improve the quality of life [RR = 1.30, 95% CI (1.14, 1.48), and P≤0.001], decrease the incidence of weight loss [RR = 0.49, 95% CI (0.32, 0.77), and P=0.002], decrease WBC count [RR = 0.78, 95% CI (0.68, 0.89), and P≤0.001], decrease incidence of renal and liver dysfunction [RR = 0.58, 95% CI (0.46, 0.73), and P≤0.001], and decrease cardiac dysfunction [RR = 0.41, 95% CI (0.18, 0.94), and P=0.035]. For the incidence of gastrointestinal adverse reactions [RR = 0.89, 95% CI (0.65, 1.21), and P=0.452], decreased platelet count [RR=0.49, 95% CI (0.18, 1.30), and P=0.150], and alopecia [RR = 1.01, 95% CI (0.89, 1.14), and P=0.879], these two groups showed no statistically significant differences. Conclusion. Kangai injection as an adjuvant method in combination with chemotherapy for treating Chinese breast cancer patients can improve their life quality and physical conditions and reduce the adverse reactions that result from chemotherapy. However, the present conclusion is only suitable for the Chinese population. The long-term, high-quality researches are required to further verify the above conclusions.

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Influence of the Sense of Coherence, the Doctor–Patient Relationship, Optimism and Non-Haematological Adverse Reactions on Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Breast Cancer

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm8122043 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. 2043

Author(s):

Blanca Prieto-Callejero ◽

Francisco Rivera ◽

Montserrat Andrés-Villas ◽

Juan Gómez-Salgado

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Sense Of Coherence ◽

Adverse Reactions ◽

Patient Relationship ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

Doctor Patient Relationship ◽

Starting Point

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumour in women around the world. The objective of this study was to quantify the number of non-haematological adverse reactions associated with chemotherapy, as well as to assess the effect of the sense of coherence, optimism–pessimism and the quality of the doctor–patient relationship on the quality of life of breast cancer patients. To this end, a cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted involving 110 breast cancer patients who were treated with docetaxel, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide during the period 2012–2014. The difference in the quality of life in patients who have five or fewer toxicities compared to those with more than six is highlighted. This difference is not as important when comparing patients with 6 to 10 toxicities and those with more than 10. The multivariate model used in this study corroborates the direct implication of the sense of coherence on the quality of life and adds the number of adverse reactions as a new construct. This has virtually the same impact on the quality of life of these patients, but in reverse. In conclusion, to improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients it would be necessary to have an impact on the number of adverse reactions involved in chemotherapeutic treatment, as well as on psychological interventions, with the sense of coherence as a possible starting point.

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The effect of psychological group intervention on emotional problems, event impact and quality of life in breast cancer patients under radiotherapy: a pilot study

Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies ◽

10.24193/jebp.2017.2.8 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 133-146 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mihaela Iancu ◽

◽

Florina Pop ◽

Raluca Ioana Farcaș ◽

Amfiana Gherman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Group Intervention ◽

Emotional Problems ◽

Breast Cancer Patients

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PSYCHOLOGICAL REHABILITATION AND SCREENING OF EMOTIONAL STRESS IN CANCER PATIENTS

Problems in oncology ◽

10.37469/0507-3758-2017-63-2-316-319 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 63 (2) ◽

pp. 316-319 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Valentina Chulkova ◽

Tatyana Semiglazova ◽

Margarita Vagaytseva ◽

Andrey Karitskiy ◽

Yevgeniy Demin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

Cancer Patient ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Emotional Stress ◽

Self Esteem ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

Psychological Study ◽

Psychological Assistance

Psychological rehabilitation is an integral part of rehabilitation of a cancer patient. Psychological rehabilitation is aimed at a patient adaptation in the situation of the disease and improvement his quality of life. Understanding of an oncological disease is extreme and (or) crisis situation and monitoring dynamics of the psychological statement of a patient allows using differentiated approach in the provision of professional psychological assistance. The modified scale of self-esteem level of distress (IPOS) was used for screening of mental and emotional stress of cancer patients. There were selected groups of cancer patients who were most in need of professional psychological assistance. Results of a psychological study of one of these groups - breast cancer patients - are presented.

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