Objective

To evaluate the treatment effect, quality of life and side effect of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating metastatic liver cancer.

Methods

Thirty nine cases of colon metastatic liver cancer were randomly divided into two groups. Both TACE and TCM were used in the treatment group, while only TACE was used in the control group. The drug used in TACE included floxuridine, pirarubicin, cisplatin, and the herbs for strengthening the spleen and regulating Qi were used in TCM.

Results

The response rate in the treatment group was 30% (45% including minor remission patients), and the median survival time was 18.6 months. While in the control group the response rate was 15.8% (36.8% including minor remission patients), and the median survival time was 14.3 months. The 1-, 2-, 3-year survival rates of treatment group and the control group were 70.2%、40.3%、13.0% and 68.7%、29.5%、10.3% respectively. There were fewer other organ metastases in the treatment group. The score from the EORTC quality of life questionnaire QLQ C30 in treatment group was ligher than that in the control group.

Conclusion

Integration of TACE and TCM in treating colon metastatic liver cancer has better results.

Key words: arterial catheterization, chemoembolization, therapeutic, colonic neoplasms, neoplasm metastasis, drugs, Chinese herbal