Government News
TCM improving cancer patients' quality of life 2024-11-14
A combination of Western and traditional Chinese medicine is helping to improve treatment for cancer patients and improve their quality of life.
Shanghai Seventh People's Hospital has formed a multidisciplinary team of doctors from different departments to offer cancer patients more supportive treatment to reduce complications of surgery and chemotherapy as well as the side effects of medication such as bleeding and low blood pressure.
A 70-year-old woman with liver cancer visited the hospital after learning about the clinic. Doctors prescribed herbal soup targeting her stomach and spleen to help solve the problem of vomiting blood and having blood in her stool, both side effects of targeted medication.
After the bleeding issue was solved, doctors prescribed herbal soup targeting the liver to solve her poor appetite, fatigue and constipation.
"Now I am coming the hospital each month for the clinic. All my data are stable and I can take care of myself properly," she said.
Dr Gai Yun, director of the hospital's oncology department, checks a cancer patient before prescribing TCM medication.
Liver cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers. There are about 500,000 cases reported each year around the world with 55 percent in China. The major treatment of Western medicine is surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy and targeted medication. However, many elderly and weak patients can't bear the side effects.
"Under TCM theory, cancer is related with long-term effects of various carcinogenic factors and people's insufficient defending mechanisms. Clinical practices have confirmed that a combination of Western and TCM can renovate symptoms, improve life quality and prolong survival," said Dr Gai Yun, director of the hospital's oncology department.
A US patient recently visited the hospital's international medical department after detecting a lump on her breast.
After diagnosing breast cancer, doctors carried out a full program of surgery, chemotherapy, and targeted medication, plus acupuncture, herbal soup and tuina (a massage therapy) to reduce any side effects.
"Concerning to the foreign patient's special condition, we also give guidance on nutrition and diet as well as mental support during treatment. She expressed satisfaction with our treatment plan and was surprised about the effects of TCM," Gai said.
TCM treats a patient as a whole, with doctors seeing the human body as a large network with intricate connections between the smaller networks of each system, organ and cell, as well as the external environment, Gai said. The balance of internal and external environment is important and TCM doctors usually check all signs of the body and give tailor-made treatment plans, methods and drug use. It is different from Western medicine, she added.
Source: Shanghai Daily
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