Cancer-induced fatigue (CRF) is a subjective feeling of pain and fatigue in patients caused by tumors and related treatments, which is often easy to ignore in clinical work. With the development of medical technology, the prolongation of the overall survival of cancer patients, and the increasing demand of patients for quality of life, cancer-caused fatigue has attracted more and more attention. In recent years, medical practitioners have gradually changed their diagnosis and treatment concepts in clinical work, paying more attention to the patient’s multi-dimensional status of body, mind, society, and spirit from the perspective of the human being as a whole, which makes it more and more important to manage cancer-caused fatigue effectively. Prof. Tang Lili from Peking University Cancer Hospital shared her views on the current status of clinical knowledge and treatment of cancer-related fatigue, as well as the application of traditional Chinese medicine.
Cancer patients often have many symptoms such as insomnia, pain, nausea, and vomiting. After more than 20 years of investigation worldwide, it has been found that it is the clinically neglected symptoms such as fatigue and tiredness that are the number one symptoms of cancer patients. The results of several surveys show that more than 50% of cancer patients have symptoms of fatigue, which may be followed by a series of symptoms such as pain, insomnia, anxiety, etc. However, fatigue has always been the number one symptom of cancer patients. It should be emphasized that fatigue/tiredness is a symptom, but at the same time, it is difficult to manage because its feeling is relatively subjective and its source is complex, which brings a lot of disturbances to the patient’s life and directly affects the patient’s quality of life.
Recently, JAMA Oncology (a sub-journal of the Journal of the American Medical Association) published an article focusing on the effectiveness of acupuncture in improving pain and other symptoms in patients. Acupuncture is a typical Chinese medicine treatment, and it is encouraging that the study was accepted by an international journal like JAMA Oncology. Both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can be very effective in managing many clinical symptoms through evidence-based treatment. At present, there is still a need for a more general understanding and recognition of the role of Chinese medicine in improving the symptoms of cancer patients, which will also be a colorful breakthrough for motherland medicine in cancer treatment.
With the continuous efforts of relevant workers, it is believed that Chinese medicine will be able to give full play to its truly unique advantages in clinical symptom management. It is also expected that more Chinese medicines will be recognized by renowned medical journals through evidence-based research, so that they can be more widely used by patients worldwide, and the culture of Chinese medicine can truly flourish.
In the section on integrated symptom management of the latest edition of the Chinese Psychological Clinical Practice Guidelines for Oncology, which was updated in 2020, special emphasis is placed on the important role played by Chinese medicine, which provides new evidence and therapeutic ideas for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases, and at the same time, it is hoped that more people will be aware of the role of the motherland’s medicine in symptom management. Especially for the symptom management treatment of cancer-caused fatigue and anorexia, Yiling Yangzheng Xiaoji capsule, a Chinese medicine widely used in clinical practice and supported by evidence, is also included.
In September 2020, the Chinese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Psychological Oncology (2020), edited by Professor Lili Tang of Peking University Cancer Hospital, was re-released. This is the first update to China’s first psychosocial oncology, China Guidelines for Psychotherapy of Oncology 2016, after a four-year hiatus.
The new guideline especially emphasizes the important role played by Chinese medicine in the comprehensive management of symptoms. In the treatment of cancer-caused fatigue, anorexia, and other symptom management, a multicenter randomized, double-blind, clinical study showed that Yangzheng Xiaoji capsule played an important role in treating patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma in conjunction with interventional chemotherapy, and the efficacy of Yangzheng Xiaoji capsule in improving the patient’s fatigue was remarkable, and the results showed that Yangzheng Xiaoji capsule could significantly improve the patient’s overall The results showed that Nourishing Zheng Xiejiu Capsules could significantly improve the overall quality of life of patients. Yangzheng Xiaoji capsule, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine, is recommended by the guideline, which provides new evidence and therapeutic ideas for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of tumor diseases.
Yiling Yangzheng Xiaoji Capsules, an innovative traditional Chinese medicine developed under the guidance of the theory of complex disease, has the effect of enhancing the efficacy and alleviating the toxic effects, enhancing the antitumor efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs, and alleviating the damage to the immune function hematopoietic system, digestive system and the liver that occurs during chemotherapy. Yangzheng Xiaoji capsule can significantly improve the patient’s fatigue, nausea, anorexia, and other symptoms, enhance the patient’s physical fitness, delay tumor progression, prolong the survival period, to improve the quality of life of tumor patients provide a new opportunity.
Chinese medicine has unique clinical roles and advantages in the process of tumor treatment, which will greatly improve and even prolong the survival of cancer patients. In the future, with the conduct of more convincing clinical studies on TCM, it is bound to consolidate the level of evidence recommended by various clinical guidelines, promote the motherland medicine to play a greater role in tumor symptom management, so that the quality of life of cancer patients can be further improved and even prolong the survival of cancer patients.
