Background. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common, debilitating adverse effect of neurotoxic chemotherapy that significantly worsens cancer survivors' quality of life. Materials and Methods. Solid tumor survivors with persistent moderate-to-severe CIPN defined as numbness, tingling, or pain rated ≥4 on an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) were randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to eight weeks of real acupuncture (RA) versus sham acupuncture (SA) versus usual care (UC). We previously reported the primary endpoint (NRS); here we report health-related quality of life endpoints: Functional

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Background: Shenling Baizhu San (SBS), a well-known Chinese medicine herbal formula, has been widely used for treating chronic diarrhea for thousands of years. However, the efficacy and safety of SBS in treating chronic diarrhea have not been fully assessed. Objective: This study evaluates the efficacy and safety of the herbal formula SBS in symptomatic relief of chronic diarrhea. Methods: English and Chinese language databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database, Wanfang Data, and SinoMed electronic databases) were searched through April 2020 for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The outcomes in these RCTs included stool frequency, stool consistency, patient-reported satisfaction of chronic diarrhea treatment, quality of life and adverse events. Paired reviewers independently extracted data and conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses. The Cochrane revised risk of bias RoB-2 tool was applied to assess the risk of bias for each trial whereas the RevMan 5.3 software was used for outcomes data synthesis and meta-analysis. Mean difference (MD) and the 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to measure continuous data. The dichotomous data were analyzed via the relative risk (RR) with 95% CIs. Results: Fourteen RCTs including 1158 participants (54% males) with chronic diarrhea were included. Shenling Baizhu San combined with or without conventional medicine (CM) was associated with greater patient-reported satisfaction than CM alone. There was no increased risk of adverse events (AEs) during treatment. Conclusion: Treatment with SBS was associated with significant improvement in patient-reported satisfaction, irrespective of conventional medicine use. Rigorous and powered RCTs with objective outcome measures are needed to confirm the effects of SBS in specific gastrointestinal disease populations with chronic diarrhea symptoms. Systematic review registration number (PROSPERO): CRD42020178073

Chronic pain is common and debilitating in cancer survivors. Tibetan herbal pain-relieving plaster is used as an external analgesic to treat musculoskeletal pain in China; however, its safety and efficacy have not been evaluated via clinical trials in cancer survivors. We designed this Phase II randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04916249) to assess the efficacy and safety of the pain-relieving plaster for temporary pain relief among cancer survivors with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Under ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, we will enroll eligible cancer survivors who have a clinical diagnosis of moderate to severe chronic musculoskeletal pain in this study. We use a central randomization system to allocate the eligible participants to either the treatment or the control group in a 1:1 ratio, with stratification by baseline opioid use. We will instruct the participants to apply the herbal patch (Tibetree Pain-Relieving Plaster, Tibet Cheezheng Tibetan Medicine Co. Ltd., Tibet, China) or placebo patch daily at the focal area with worst pain for 14 consecutive days. Study physician, participant, outcome assessor, and biostatistician are blinded to the group allocation. The primary outcome is pain severity measured by the Brief Pain Inventory on Days 2–7. Secondary outcomes include changes in insomnia, anxiety, depression, fatigue, pressure pain threshold, pain medication use, and global impression of change. We will also monitor the adverse events throughout the study period. Statistical analysis will follow the intention-to-treat principle and linear mixed modeling will be used. With rigorous design and implementation, this randomized, placebo-controlled trial will provide the initial evidence on the efficacy and safety of the pain-relieving plaster for pain relief among cancer survivors with chronic musculoskeletal pain.