Effect of remedies for enhancing resistance and relieving blood stasis on metastasis in postoperative gastric cancer and ornithine decarboxylase levels.

AIM

To study the action of remedies for enhancing resistance and relieving blood stasis on metastasis in postoperative gastric cancer and its influence on ornithine decarboxylase (ODC).

METHODS

Sixty-three postoperative patients with gastric cancer were randomly divided into two groups. Thirty-one patients were treated with western medicine consisting of the FAP (5-fluorouracil, adriamycin, cisplatin) and CODP regimens (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, daunorubicin, prednisone), whereas 32 patients were treated with the FAP regimen and traditional Chinese medicine. Correlations were made between the ODC levels detected before and after treatment and other factors such as tumor diameter, infiltration depth, histological type, and lymph node metastasis.

RESULTS

The ODC levels in the gastric cancer tissue and adjacent normal gastric mucosal tissue were significantly higher in the patients than in the controls. There was an obvious correlation between increased ODC and tumor size, infiltration depth, degree of differentiation, and lymph node metastasis. Six months later, there were no significant changes in the ODC levels of the group using only Western medicine, while the ODC levels decreased markedly in the group using combined Western and traditional Chinese medicine (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The effects of traditional Chinese medicine remedies on metastases in postoperative gastric cancer are related to the reduction of ODC activity.