What role can Chinese medicine play with colorectal cancer radiotherapy?

  Radiation therapy often damages yin and depletes qi, while chemotherapy drugs often affect the transport and transformation functions of the spleen and stomach, disrupting qi flow and depleting qi and blood, resulting in dizziness and weakness, lack of color, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, constipation and diarrhea. Some patients interrupt their treatment because they cannot tolerate the side effects of radiotherapy. If the radiotherapy process is combined with TCM treatment in time, the situation will be greatly improved. TCM starts from regulating the spleen and stomach, benefiting Qi and nourishing blood, which can play a role in reducing toxicity and increasing effectiveness, effectively improving patients’ quality of life. Chemotherapeutic drugs such as oxaliplatin and Siroda are often prone to neurotoxicity such as numbness, dullness of sensation, swelling and pain of the skin, manifestations of hand-foot syndrome and adverse reactions such as abdominal pain and diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The use of Chinese herbal baths and external washing can significantly reduce the symptoms of neurotoxicity and hand-foot syndrome, as well as improve patients’ sleep and physical condition. Internal administration of Chinese herbal medicine can reduce nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea and other gastrointestinal reactions, especially in improving appetite, which can effectively compensate for the shortage of western medical treatment. Severe bone marrow suppression often occurs during radiotherapy, manifesting as stubborn leukocyte and platelet reduction, which is sometimes difficult to improve with high-dose injections of leukostatic drugs and platelet-raising drugs. The use of Chinese herbal medicine to benefit the qi and nourish the blood and tonify the spleen and kidneys, together with moxibustion therapy on strong points such as the foot three li, qihai and guan yuan, can promote the recovery of the indicators, and the efficacy is more consolidated and not easy to rebound.