Quality of life and survival analyses of breast cancer cases treated with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine

Abstract

BACKGROUND Breast cancer (BC) is the second leading cause of tumor-related mortality after lung cancer. Chemotherapy resistance remains a major challenge to progress in BC treatment, warranting further exploration of feasible and effective alternative therapies. AIM To analyzed the quality of life (QoL) and survival of patients with BC treated with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine (TCM-WM). METHODS This study included 226 patients with BC admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine between February 2018 and February 2023, including 100 who received conventional Western medicine treatment (control group) and 126 who received TCM-WM treatment (research group). The total effective rate, side effects (alopecia, nausea and vomiting, hepatorenal toxicity, and myelosuppression), QoL assessed using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30), 1-year overall survival (OS), recurrence and metastasis rates, and serum inflammatory factors [interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor alpha] were comparatively analyzed. RESULTS The research group showed statistically better overall efficacy, EORTC QoL-C30 scores, and 1-year OS than the control group, with markedly lower side effects and 1-year recurrence and metastasis rates. Moreover, the posttreatment levels of serum inflammatory in the research group were significantly lower than the baseline and those in the control group. CONCLUSION Overall, TCM-WM demonstrated significantly improved therapeutic efficacy while ensuring drug safety in BC, which not only improved patients’ QoL and prolonged survival, but also significantly inhibited the inflammatory response.