Tumor treatment has now entered the era of comprehensive treatment. Clinical practice has proved that it is difficult to achieve the best effect by any single treatment method at this stage. Academician Sun Yan of the tumor field has also clearly pointed out in the preface part of several books that so far, before there is no special treatment for tumor, the best effect can only be achieved by flexibly applying the existing treatment methods – surgery, radiotherapy and Chinese medicine treatment to patients. In reality, many people still have misunderstanding about the role of TCM in tumor treatment and rehabilitation. They do not realize that TCM should be involved in the whole process, but generally take TCM as the last straw when they are at the end of their rope. Huo Jiege, director of the Department of Medical Oncology of Jiangsu Provincial Hospital of Integrative Medicine, pointed out that in the process of tumor treatment, surgery and radiotherapy solve the problem of the symptoms, but the internal cause, that is, the problem of the root cause, is not solved. Traditional Chinese medicine focuses on evidence-based treatment, that is, treatment according to the cause of the disease and changing the “soil environment” in the body. Although malignant tumor patients have obvious local cancer foci, the local cancer foci can invade the organs and tissues and affect the whole body, and the whole body condition often affects the development of cancer foci. Therefore, in treating tumors, TCM will not focus on the treatment of local cancer foci, but will consider the overall treatment. This is one of its advantages. In addition, in the combined treatment, TCM can play the role of reducing toxicity and increasing effectiveness. For example, in chemotherapy, many patients will experience adverse reactions such as vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, etc. At this time, Western medicine usually has no better way to relieve them, but through the regulation of TCM, many patients’ discomfort can be improved, and some patients who originally could not tolerate chemotherapy also insist on completing the treatment. At the same time, by helping to dispel the evil, it can also increase the patient’s sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs. In the past, after surgery and radiotherapy, many patients felt that they had nothing to do. But in fact, this time, Chinese herbal medicine can still be very promising. “Through conditioning, it can consolidate the previous treatment results, regulate the body’s internal environment, improve immune function and reduce or delay the recurrence of tumors.” Huo Jiege said, for some advanced stage, or patients whose lesions are not suitable for surgery and radiotherapy, through the conditioning of TCM can play the purpose of controlling tumor growth, improving the quality of life and prolonging survival time, it can be said that TCM has different roles in different stages of tumor treatment. “Many people think that tumor is “poison”, so the treatment should be “attacking poison with poison”, such as scorpion, centipede, gecko and spotted cypress, which are highly toxic. This is a misconception. This is a misconception, reminds Huo Jege. “The length of time and dosage should be strictly controlled according to the condition, and should not be used at will. “In this case, patients should not blindly listen to the prescriptions, but should go to regular hospitals to seek medical treatment from oncologists. The reason is that only specialist doctors have rich experience in medication and will not go off the track in treatment.” Some patients worry that taking traditional Chinese medicine will cause liver damage. This is not a problem unique to traditional Chinese medicine, but all drugs can cause liver damage, said Huo Jege. On the contrary, herbal medicine can also treat liver damage. There was a patient with breast cancer who was treated with endocrine therapy and soon discovered that her liver function was impaired. The doctor recommended hanging water, but the situation did not improve and the indexes increased instead of decreased. She then found Huo Jege and stopped the relevant medication and changed to another treatment plan, along with herbal interventions, and after about two weeks, the situation improved significantly. When can I stop the medication if I have to use TCM for the whole process? When can I stop taking the medication after the whole course of TCM intervention? This is a question that many patients ask. Huo Jie Ge said that so far there is no definite answer and it depends on individual situation. However, it is generally recommended to wait until at least 3 years later, because this time period is the peak of tumor recurrence. Of course, there are tumor patients who have been taking traditional Chinese medicine for more than 10 years continuously, not only the tumor has not recurred, but also the health quality has improved greatly, even if other people in the family have cold, he has not been sick. Do tumor patients who take traditional Chinese medicine need to avoid eating? When taking traditional Chinese medicine, many people will think of avoiding food, especially “hairy food” such as chicken, fish and shrimp. However, there is no definite conclusion on whether these foods can cause the recurrence of tumor, according to Huo Jiege. These substances are important sources of protein and other vital substances for human body, and after radiotherapy, patients’ body consumption increases and their daily protein and calorie requirements are higher than normal people, so excessive emphasis on avoiding food is not conducive to recovery. As for the tonic, Huo reminds that food with therapeutic effect has its own bias as well as drugs. Some supplements are cold and some are hot, so choose according to your constitution. Some patients have abdominal distension or poor appetite after taking the tonic, which is called “deficiency of tonic” in Chinese medicine. Therefore, it is best for tumor patients to take tonic under the guidance of a specialist.