Does traditional Chinese medicine have a role in helping patients fight cancer?
Herbal remedies and acupuncture aim to rebalance the body for self-healing and improve quality of life, but Hong Kong oncologists say some herbs can undermine effective Western treatments
When Joyce Ho (not her real name) was diagnosed with breast cancer, she considered traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to help manage her illness. “Chemotherapy treatments were taking a lot out of me and I considered using some herbs to boost my immune system,” says the 45-year-old high school teacher. “I was under the impression that they could improve my condition, but a discussion with my oncologist changed my mind. He told me about a few other cancer patients whose herbal remedies had caused harmful interactions with their Western drugs. Still, I was keen to try TCM, so I went with acupuncture instead. This really helped to relieve the anxiety and discomfort I was experiencing at the time.”
According to Grace Yu, a registered TCM practitioner at Balance Health in Central, the aim of TCM is not to cure disease but to rebalance the body so that it can focus on healing itself. It can also be used to improve a weak patient’s quality of life, as in the case of late-stage terminal illnesses, she says.
Yu says that contrary to popular belief, TCM does not attack cancer cells. Instead, it enhances the body’s immunity, increasing energy levels and improving the body’s ability to deal with the disease. “Some herbs are useful for this,” she says. “For example, if your yang energy is weak, we will use astragalus, and if the yin energy is weak, we will use radix, depending on the patient’s body type.”
Before prescribing a suitable treatment, a practitioner assesses body type, diet, lifestyle habits and stress management strategies. Yu says a lot about a patient’s health can be revealed in their pulse, coating on the tongue, energy levels, bowel movements and sleeping habits.
According to Dr Foo Kian Fong, a senior consultant medical oncologist at Parkway Cancer Centre in Singapore, some Chinese herbal remedies can harm rather than help when they interact with Western drugs. “It’s not uncommon to hear of herbal interactions with chemotherapy causing a drop in white blood cell counts, liver problems or kidney failure for cancer patients,” he says. There are also cases where herbs prove useful, he added.
Hsue agrees. “TCM herbal remedies typically use as many as 10 or 20 herbs to address various cancer-causing factors, so the potential for harmful interactions certainly exists. I seldom allow my patients to take these.” He was less worried if some mild Chinese herbs were added to soup or tea to boost nutritional intake.
Purity and quality of herbs also should be considered: how and where the herbs were grown, the processing, where they were stored and for how long – these can all affect the safety and efficacy of the treatment. “Such factors are crucial, but unfortunately they are difficult to control,” says Hsue. “Plus, you just don’t know if the treatment contains heavy metals or other harmful additives.”
Foo says herbs with anti-cancer properties, like oldenlandia or ban zhi lian, can cause a drop in white blood cells. “When taken during chemotherapy, it can be a double whammy,” he says. “Therefore, it’s best to consume such herbs only after chemotherapy ends.”
Foo also says that patients with breast cancer who are hormone-receptor positive (that is, estrogen-receptor or progesterone-receptor-positive) should avoid herbs that contain phytoestrogens such as lingzhi, ginseng, dang shen, angelica, huai shan (wild yam), yin yang huo (epimedium), and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) and black cohosh.
Lingzhi, for example, can improve a patient’s immunity and help fight fatigue but clinical observations have shown that a quarter of patients who take it while on chemotherapy show liver problems. And the antioxidant property of ginseng can render radiotherapy treatments less effective, says Foo.
Moxibustion is another important traditional Chinese therapy and involves burning dried mugwort (moxa) on particular points on the body. Yu says this can help eliminate toxins.