A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial of "Feiji Recipe" on Quality of Life of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Abstract

In order to pilot a study observing the feasibility of applying the Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) version 2.0 to assess the quality of life (QOL) of patients with NSCLC treated with Feiji Recipe, a randomized, parallel controlled clinical trial was conducted in the university-affiliated hospital. Seventy inpatients who met the inclusion criteria were randomized into the study, and 60 cases were available as subjects for QOL data analysis. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: the Feiji Recipe group (A); the Feiji Recipe combined with chemotherapy group (B); and the chemotherapy group (C) in which the patients were treated with vinorelbine plus cisplatin (NP) or gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GP). QOL was assessed with the Chinese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30. Sixty cases that finished the questionnaires were analyzed, and we found that patients who received chemotherapy had low QOL, in terms of their global health, role, emotional, social, economic status and symptom burden including fatigue, nausea and vomiting, dyspnea, loss of appetite and abnormal bowel movements. Simultaneous treatment with Feiji Recipe and chemotherapy was able to prevent the worsening of function in terms of role, social, fatigue and global health. The Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) version 2.0 can be used to evaluate the QOL of patients with NSCLC treated by Chinese herbal medicine. Feiji Recipe might partially improve the QOL of NSCLC patients when administered alone or in combination with chemotherapy. No unexpected side effects were observed. However, further double-blinded placebo controlled studies are strongly recommended.

Long-Term Effectiveness of Combined Treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine on the Prognosis of Patients with Lung Cancer

“…8,38,39 The combined-treatment group in the current study had significantly higher dyspnea scores than the Western medicine group at 6 months for both general QOL (EORTC QLQ-C30) and disease-specific QOL (EORTC QLQ-LC13) ( p < 0.05). However, the two groups did not differ significantly in respiratory symptoms at 1, 3, and 12 months.…”

“…Samples in previous studies on the effectiveness of TCM or combined treatment ranged from 60 to 292. 6,8,10,11,39,40,42,43 Therefore, increasing the sample size by continuous recruitment might increase the likelihood of detecting the long-term effectiveness of combined treatment on the prognosis of patients with lung cancer.…”

“…Indeed, TCM has been a popular alternative treatment for lung cancer in China, especially in treating elderly patients with advanced NSCLC. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] TCM treatments are not standardized as in Western medicine but rather are individualized according to patients' syndromes. 6,12 TCM also bases diagnosis and treatment on patients' pattern type or body constitution, which is classified into nine major types and accounts for patient sex and the season.…”

“…13 In the past decade, the consensus treatment for Chinese patients with lung cancer has gradually become a combination of Western medicine and TCM. 6,7 This combined treatment is considered more effective in improving patients' prognosis than Western medicine or pure TCM alone 14 because it reduces chemotherapy adverse effects, 8,15,16 enhances immunity, 15 improves QOL, 8,15,16 and prolongs survival. 5 Treatment effects on prognosis of patients with lung cancer have been explored by using such indicators as survival rate, [17][18][19] extent of invasive cancer, 20 average survival time, [20][21][22][23][24] cancer recurrence, 25 QOL, 20,23,26 physical function, 23 pain intensity, 23 overall health status, 23 and discontinued treatment due to adverse effects.…”

A Short Review: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Lung Cancer

“…Similarly another RCT of 121 patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer showed improved quality of life and a trend towards increase in survival time in patients assigned to Kangliuzengxiao and Feiyanning in addition to chemotherapy [17]. Fiji Recipe therapy has been shown to alleviate chemotherapy side effects and enhance therapeutic efficacy [18]. Similarly, other studies have demonstrated the benefits of CAM therapy in mitigating the adverse effects of chemotherapy, including myalgia and diarrhea [19,20].…”