Clinical and experimental study on prevention and treatment of acute radiation injury in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients by Yiqi Huoxue Yangyin recipe

Abstract

To observe the effect of Chinese herbal medicine in alleviating acute toxic-adverse effect of radiotherapy and on growth of stromal cells in bone marrow. Seventy-two patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) were randomly divided into two groups. Radical radiotherapy was applied to both groups. In the radiotherapeutic period, to the 36 patients in the treated group, Yiqi Huoxue Yangyin Recipe (YHYR) was given additionally by oral taking and compressing on radiation area, and to the 36 patients in the control group, vitamin B12 solution was given for gargling or compressing. Experimental study was carried out in rats of two groups, irradiated with 5.0 Gy X-ray and treated with YHYR or normal saline intraperitoneally, to observe the colony forming unit-fibroblastoid (CFU-F) in cultured bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC), taken from the rats at different time. The oral mucomembranous radiation damage occurred in 47.2% of the treated group when the dose of radiation reached to 41.4 ±9.4 Gy, while in the control group, it was 91.7% when the dose reached to 30. 9±8.9 Gy. The skin radiation damage occurrence rate in the two groups was 13.9% and 33.3% respectively when the dose of radiation reached to 50.2±5.6 Gy and 43.2±6.3 Gy respectively. Comparison of the two groups showed significant difference (P<0.01), the radiation damage was significantly slighter in the treated group. Experimental study showed that the rats in the two groups were significantly different in occurrence and degree of bone marrow function inhibition,P<0.01. The numbers of CFU-F in cultured BMSC of radiation damaged rats taken at respective different culture time were also significantly different between the two groups,P<0.01. YHYR could significantly reduce acute radiation damage of mucomembrane and skin, alleviate the inhibition on bone marrow function, and eliminate the injury of radiation on BMSC.