Clinical Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine as a Concomitant Therapy for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Many published studies have reported the use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in combination with conventional cancer therapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The purpose of this systematic review was to assess the efficacy of TCM as a concomitant therapy for NPC patients. A meta-analysis was conducted covering English- and Chinese-language studies published from 1966 to November 2007. Extensive searches were performed with the AMED, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Ovid EBM Review, and CNKI databases. Controlled trials comparing NPC patients treating by TCM combined with conventional cancer therapy (treatment group) versus patients using conventional cancer therapy alone (control group) were analyzed. Of the 178 potentially relevant publications, 18 controlled trials met the inclusion criteria. There were 18 studies (n = 1732) reported significant increase in the number of patients with survival more than 1, 3, or 5 years in the treatment group. Six studies (n = 464) reported enhancement of complete or partial immediate tumor responses with TCM combination treatment. Two studies (n = 135) reported stabilized or improved Karnofsky performance status with TCM combination treatment. Five studies (n = 439) significantly reduced the risk of adverse effects in the treatment group. Three studies (n = 182) reported significant immuno-stimulation in the treatment group. There were 16 Chinese herbs found to be commonly used across the studies. Published studies suggest that TCM is efficacious as a concomitant therapy for NPC patients. These results require confirmation with rigorously controlled trials.