Abstract
Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy of Xihuang pill (XHP) in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Methods Three English and four Chinese databases were searched. Literature was screened using EndNote X7 and data were analyzed by Review Manager. Results This review included 13 randomized clinical studies of 1272 patients. The results showed that XHP increased the tumor response [risk ratio (RR) = 2.91; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.98-4.26] and improved Karnofsky performance score (KPS) for breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy [RR = 4.96; 95% CI = 2.07-11.86]. In addition, XHP treatment significantly reduced chemotherapy-induced adverse events, including nausea and vomiting [RR = 0.50; 95% CI = 0.33-0.74], WBC reduction [RR = 0.71; 95% CI = 0.47-1.06], platelet reduction [RR = 0.53; 95% CI = 0.19-1.44], hemoglobin reduction [RR = 0.31; 95% CI = 0.19-0.52], and hepatic function damage [RR = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.35-1.11]. Conclusion XHP combined with chemotherapy in comparison with chemotherapy alone could significantly enhance the tumor response, improve KPS, and alleviate toxicity induced by chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.
Highlights
Breast cancer is one of the most common types of malignant tumors among women worldwide and is the leading cause of cancer death among women in the world [1]
We searched for relevant studies published in the following electronic publication databases: Embase, PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Knowledge, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Database (VIP), China Journal Full-Text Database, and Wanfang Data from their inception to August 2018
A total of 1272 patients were enrolled in these studies, of which 636 patients participated in chemotherapy combined with Xihuang pill (XHP) and 636 received chemotherapy alone
Summary
Breast cancer is one of the most common types of malignant tumors among women worldwide and is the leading cause of cancer death among women in the world [1]. 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 40,610 breast cancer deaths are expected to occur among US women in 2017 [2]. Breast cancer has an ability to develop resistance to this conventional therapeutics over time [16], and some cancers are insensitive to chemotherapy or radiotherapy [17]. These factors restrict the use of these treatment modalities and impact the prognosis of breast cancer patients. It is essential to discover an effective and adjuvant therapeutic agent with low toxicity and fewer adverse side effects for breast cancer treatment
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