[A study on treatment of lung cancer by combined therapy of traditional Chinese medicine and chemotherapy].

From May 1992 to May 1995, 102 patients with lung cancer were divided randomly into two groups: group A, 48 patients, treated with combined therapy of TCM and chemotherapy, group B, 54 patients treated with chemotherapy alone. The protocol of chemotherapy used in the two groups was similar. The Chinese medicines were given according mainly to the Syndrome Differentiation. Four types were found in the group A: the Lung and Spleen Qi Deficiency type, the Lung Heat and Phlegm-Dampness type, the Lung-Yin and Stomach-Yin Deficiency type and the Qi stagnation and blood stasis type. The total effective rate according to the WHO standard was as follows: that of group A and group B was 52.1% and 35.1%; the 1 year survival rate of them was 69.4% and 66.7%, the 2 year survival rate was 56.2% and 15.8% and the median survival time were 13 months and 9 months, respectively. These results suggest that the elevation of median survival time and 2 year survival rate of group A might be closely related with the therapeutic effect of TCM, but the combined therapy of TCM and chemotherapy did not improve the therapeutic efficacy significantly.