Abstract 468P
Background
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is effective in alleviating side-effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. While TCM is popular among cancer patients, their health-seeking behavior is not well described. Safety data regarding concurrent use with oncology treatment is lacking.
Methods
This is a retrospective cohort study from a tertiary oncology institute. All patients who had follow-up visits in both the TCM clinic and Oncology department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong from 2011 to 2022 were recruited.
Results
Fourteen patients were identified. Twelve (85.7%) were female, median age was 64. Nine (64.3%) of them were early-stage (I-II) cancers. Amongst these 14 patients, the distribution of cancer types was as follows: breast cancer (n=6), cervical cancer (n=3), head and neck cancer (n=2), ovarian cancer (n=2) and gastrointestinal cancer (n=1). Eight (57.4%) patients started to receive TCM advice at the same year of diagnosis, while half of them received conventional cancer treatment (chemotherapy, n=2; targeted therapy, n=1; hormone therapy, n=1) simultaneously. No CTCAE v5 Grade 3 or above adverse events were observed among patients having the concomitant use of TCM and chemotherapy. However, none of them informed the oncologist regarding the use of TCM. Patients tends to complain more symptoms to TCM practitioner than to Oncologists. The major reasons for TCM treatments were the treatment-emergent side effects (n=9), followed by the wish for reconditioning after anti-cancer treatment (n=6). Patients reported that the use of herbal medicine (H) improved insomnia (3 out of 4 pts), dizziness (n=1) and cancer pain (n=1). Moreover, the combined use of H and acupuncture showed clinical improvement in chemotherapy-induced numbness (1 out of 2 pts), pain associated with avascular necrosis (n=1), fatigue (n=1) and alopecia (n=1).
Conclusions
TCM demonstrated promising results in improving long-term treatment morbidity. Yet, most patients were not willing to disclose the use of TCM. Strengthening the communication between oncologists and patients would reduce the potential risk of herb-drug interactions.
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Resources from the same session
101P - The coexistence of TP53 gain-of-function mutation and hypermethylation as a poor prognostic factor in BRAF wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer
Presenter: Kota Ouchi
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract
102P - Enhancing colorectal cancer prevention in high-risk populations through faecal immunochemical test surveillance
Presenter: Li Xie
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract
103P - Anlotinib plus chemotherapy as first-line therapy for gastrointestinal tumor patients with unresectable liver metastasis: Updated results from a multi-cohort, multi-center phase II trial ALTER-G-001-cohort A
Presenter: Junwei Wu
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract
104P - The value of functional MR-imaging signature model for early prediction of chemotherapy response and its guidance for regimen adjustment to improve efficacy
Presenter: Wenhua Li
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract
105P - A single-arm, phase II, multicenter study of iparomlimab (QL1604) in patients (pts) with unresectable/metastatic deficient mismatch repair (dMMR)/microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) solid tumors
Presenter: Weijian Guo
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract
106P - Efficacy and safety of IBI351 (GFH925) monotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer harboring KRASG12C mutation: Updated results from a pooled analysis of two phase I studies
Presenter: Ying Yuan
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract
107P - Tumor-stromal ratio in a new age fibroblast activated protein PET imaging as a biomarker for prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in carcinoma rectum
Presenter: swetha Suresh
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract
108P - Detection of HER2 overexpression in colorectal cancer: Comparison of a HANDLE classic NGS panel with standard IHC/FISH
Presenter: Lijuan Luan
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract
109P - Early onset metastatic colorectal cancer: Clinical-prognostic characteristics and correlation to molecular status
Presenter: Andrea Pretta
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract
110P - The correlation between multi-dimensional characteristics of circulating tumor cells (CTC) and treatment response in patients with initially unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer
Presenter: Yu Liu
Session: Poster Display
Resources:
Abstract