This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of nourishing Yin and clearing heat therapy (NYCH therapy) based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis (RTOM) in nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs). A total of eight online databases were searched from inception to September 2021 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The control group was treated with Western medicine (WM) alone, whereas the experimental group was treated with a combined NYCH and WM therapy. A total of 30 RCTs involving 2562 participants were ultimately included. NYCH therapy combined with conventional WM delayed the onset time (days) of RTOM (MD = 10.80, p < 0.001 ), and at that time, a higher cumulative radiotherapy dose (Gy) (MD = 5.72, p < 0.001 ) was completed in the experimental group. The combination regimen also reduced the incidence of severe oral mucositis (Grade III–IV) (RR = 0.25, p < 0.001 ). In addition, the treatment efficacy of the experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group (RR = 1.31, p < 0.001 ). Compared with the patients in the control group, the experimental group had lower xerostomia scores (MD = -1.07, p < 0.001 ) and more saliva (MD = 0.36, p < 0.001 ). NYCH combined with WM improved the efficacy of treating RTOM in NPC. This study provides a sufficient basis for conducting further large RCTs to prove the efficacy of NYCH.

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Review question / Objective: In recent years, many articles have shown the significant clinical effects of traditional Chinese medicine for esophageal cancer (EC) treatment. These studies involved Chinese medicine injection, decoction, acupuncture, and moxibustion. Chinese medicine injections, including Aidi injection (Aidi) (Z52020236, China food and Drug Administration; composed of 0.15 g/ml cantharis, 5 g/ml ginseng, 10 g/ml Astragalus and 15 g/ml Eleutherococcus senticosus at a ratio of 0.03:1:2:3. The three plant names have been checked with http://www.theplantlist.org 2022/6/4), Shenqifuzheng injection, Kanglaite injection, compound Kushen injection, and Kangai injection, are widely used to treat cancer in clinical practice because of their efficacy and convenience. Aidi combined with standard treatment, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or chemoradiotherapy (CR) (Aidi-based combination therapy), showed significant efficacy in the treatment of unresectable EC. However, existing studies are limited to small sample sizes, and the efficacy of Aidi in the treatment of unresectable EC has not been confirmed in large-scale phase III clinical trials. Therefore, it is important to derive more convincing results by analyzing all the reported data. Herein, we conducted a literature search for all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that applied Aidi-based combination therapy in unresectable EC treatment, and a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the efficacy of Aidi-based combination therapy in unresectable EC treatment.