Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:437948. doi: 10.1155/2013/437948. Epub 2013 Jun 12.
Breast cancer is a life-threatening disease among women worldwide with annual rates of reported incidence and death increasing alarmingly. Chemotherapy is a recommended and effective treatment option for breast cancer; however, the narrow therapeutic indices and varied side effects of currently approved drugs present major hurdles in increasing its effectiveness. An increasing number of literature evidence indicate that complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) used in treatment-related symptom control and alleviation of side effects plays an important role in increasing survival rate and quality of life in breast cancer patients. This review focuses on the use of herbal medicines and acupuncture in palliative care and as adjuvants in the treatment of breast cancer. Herbal medicinal treatments, the correlation of clinical use with demonstrated in vitro and in vivo mechanisms of action, and the use of certain acupoints in acupuncture are summarized. The aim of this review is to facilitate an understanding of the current practice and usefulness of herbal medicine and acupuncture as adjuvants in breast cancer therapy.
乳腺癌是全球女性面临的一种危及生命的疾病，其发病率和死亡率的报告呈惊人地上升趋势。化疗是乳腺癌的一种推荐和有效的治疗选择；然而，目前批准的药物治疗指数狭窄且副作用各异，这在提高其疗效方面存在重大障碍。越来越多的文献证据表明，在治疗相关症状控制和减轻副作用方面使用的补充和替代医学（CAM）在提高乳腺癌患者的生存率和生活质量方面发挥着重要作用。本综述重点介绍了草药和针灸在姑息治疗中的应用以及作为乳腺癌治疗的辅助手段。概述了草药治疗方法、临床应用与已证明的体外和体内作用机制的相关性，以及针灸中某些穴位的应用。本综述的目的是促进对草药和针灸作为乳腺癌治疗辅助手段的当前实践和用途的理解。
