Clinical Observation of Transcatheter Hepatic Arterial Chemoembolization Combined with Chinese Herbal Medicine in Treating Primary Liver Cancer

Objective:To investigate the clinical effect of transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization(TACE) combined with Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of primary liver cancer.Methods:Eighty-three inpatients with primary liver cancer received TACE were randomized into two groups.Forty patients in the control group were received TACE alone,the other 43 patients in the treatment group received TACE combined with oral use of Chinese herbal medicine.The solid tumors criteria were used for the evaluation of the therapeutic effect.Results:One month after two periods of TACE,computer tomography was carried out to evaluate response effect.One case had complete response(CR),25 had partial response(PR),11 had stable disease(SD),and 6 had progressive disease(PD) in the treatment group.In the control group,no one had CR,11 had PR,16 had SD,and 6 had PD.After a median follow-up of 11.3 months,one-year survival rate was 72.1%(31/43) in the treatment group and was 57.5%(23/ 40) in the control group.During the follow-up periods,most of the toxicity was mild and transient,and no severe adverse events occurred.As for the grade Ⅲ～Ⅳ toxicity,the incidence of adverse reactions such as nausea,vomiting,hepatalgia,leukopenia,thrombocytopenia,anemia and hepatic impairmentwas lower in the treatment groupthan that in the control group(P 0.05).Conclusion:TACE combined with Chinese herbal medicine can enhance the clinical effect of TACE for primary liver cancer,and can decrease the incidence of adverse reactions and their severity.