| As one of the most common malignant tumors,lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide.Non-small-cell lung cancer(NSCLC)accounts for 85%of all cases of lung cancer.Despite advancements in therapeutic approaches,the 5-year survival rate of lung cancer remains low.At present,the comprehensive therapy regimen for NSCLC at early stage gives priority to surgery.Multiple factors lead to the low overall survival(OS)rates in NSCLC patients,such as late diagnosis,high tumor recurrence and metastasis.Based on current methods of therapy,tumor recurrence and metastasis remain a great challenge for a full cure despite the excellent outcomes after standard treatments.For patients with early-stage NSCLC,surgery is often the first therapeutic option.After operation,platinum-based chemotherapy or combined targeted therapy and chemotherapy are recommended as standard Western medicine treatments.In addition,there exist comprehensive therapy regimens that also include radiotherapy and Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).TCM is considered as an important complementary therapy with beneficial effects for patients with NSCLC by reducing toxic effects,improving the quality of life,and prolonging OS.Chinese herbal medicines(CHMs)have been used for thousands of years as adjuvant therapy,and play an indispensable role in alternative medicine and cancer therapy.TCM therapy mainly consists of Chinese herbal compounds,which are composed of at least two or more traditional CHMs,containing herbal decoction,Chinese patent drug,and correlative injection.TCM exhibits advantages in preventing tumorigenesis,attenuating toxicity,enhancing the therapeutic effect,and reducing risk of recurrence and metastasis.Although several systematic reviews and meta-analyses have evaluated the effectiveness of TCM treatment on lung cancer.the follow-up periods of these analyses were relatively short,and lacking a comparison of disease free survival(DFS)between the two groups.In addition,very few studies have focused on patients with stage Ⅱ-ⅢA NSCLC.Therefore,we conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the effect of TCM combined with conventional chemotherapy on DFS of patients with stage Ⅱ-ⅢA NSCLC.Objective:This study was designed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of combined traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)and conventional chemotherapy versus conventional chemotherapy in patients with stage II-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)after radical surgery.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted in patients with stage II-IIIA NSCLC from Subei People’s Hospital,Affiliated hospital of Yangzhou university and Yangzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Yangzhou City of Jiangsu Province from 2012 to 2016.Patients were divided into two groups:the TCM user group(patients receiving treatment with integrated TCM and conventional chemotherapy)and the non-TCM user group(patients receiving conventional chemotherapy only).The two groups were compared for their median disease-free survival(DFS)and median overall survival(OS).Results:A total of 67 patients with stage II-IIIA NSCLC were enrolled between January,2012 and December,2016.The median DFS for the non-TCM user group was 601 days(95%confidence interval[CI],375.7-826,3).The median DFS for TCM user group could not be calculated.However,log-rank analysis showed that the median survival time in the TCM user group was significantly longer than that of the non-TCM user group(P<0.05).In addition,several significant risk factors were detected for predicting disease prognosis in patients with NSCLC,such as age,ECOG,lymphatic metastasis and body mass index(BMI).For patients harboring these independent risk factors,the DFS of TCM user group was much longer than that of non-TCM user group(P<0.05).Conclusion:Adjuvant therapy with TCM may reduce the rate of tumor recurrence and metastasis,and prolong DFS of patients with stage Ⅱ-ⅢA NSCLC. |
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