Traditional Chinese Medicines Improve the Course of Refractory Leukemic Lymphoblastic Lymphoma and Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia: Two Case Reports

Abstract

A 34 year-old man with leukemic lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL), who could not tolerate chemotherapy due to its side effects, was diagnosed to have an acute febrile disease by a traditional Chinese medical doctor, Lu Gan Fu. Zixuedan, a traditional Chinese remedy for dissipation of pathogenic heat and detoxification that could reduce WBC count including leukemic cells below 1000/microliters without intolerable side effects, was prescribed for treatment. A second case of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) was a 41 year-old female who also could not tolerate chemotherapy. In her fourth recurrence, she started Chinese medicine including modified zixuedan, which gave her transient improvement followed by aggravation. Intake of previously ineffective cyclophosphamide in combination with Chinese medicine led to a dramatic improvement.

A Pilot Study on Anticancer Activities of Chinese Leek

“…Some of them are even edible vegetables. The enhancement by TCMs of Western-style treatment of cancer has been widely observed clinically (Hijikata et al, 1995;Kawachi et al, 1996;Lin et al, 1996;Suzuki et al, 1997). The anticancer mechanisms of TCM can mainly be classified into two categories, i.e., direct or indirect.…”

Patients Suffering from Intractable Diseases Treated Effectively with Medicines of Kampo and TCM

“…However, there remain the problems of side effects of chemotherapy, age limits for certain treatments, and a shortage of donors for BMT. Based on the clinical course of the case presented here, TCM should be considered as a potential alternative medicine treatment in some cases [24].…”

“…Lu Xi of the Lu family, noted for their treatment of acute febrile diseases (Wen bin), diagnosed her with acute febrile disease with stagnation of pathogenic heat, shortage of Qi (vital energy) and Yin including blood (xue) with blood stasis [24]. Her tongue body was pale and her lips were dark, indicating anemia and blood stagnation.…”

“…We also experienced another case not reported here of leukemia/lympho-blastic lymphoma (LBL) in which the patient was unable to receive chemotherapy due to terrible side effects. Traditional Chinese medical doctor, Lu Gan Fu, applied Zi-xue-dan (紫雪丹) for pathogenic heat and detoxification, which was able to reduce the patient's WBC count including leukemic cells [24]. He could survive 4 years and 10 months, though before starting TCM therapy his physician in charge told his family the patient could live 2 months.…”

Treatment for intractable anemia with the traditional Chinese medicines Hominis Placenta and Cervi Cornus Colla (deer antler glue)

“…The increase of Hb and Plt after administration of prescription C might imply Tabebuia Avellanedae (TA) may have some effect which improve anemia, as well. This is because this is the only herb to improve anemia among the herbs in mixture C 17. She complained of excessive perspiration at night and persistent constipation.…”