Analysis of the nature, tastes, channel distributions and effects of the frequently used herbal medicines in the prescriptions involved in the clinical literatures about treatment of gastric cancer published from 1988 to 2007 was made in the paper. The literatures were categorized into three types: 1) treatment of middle- and late-stage gastric cancer; 2) prevention and treatment of the recurrence and metastasis after operation; 3) Chinese herbal medicines combined with chemotherapy for enhancing efficacy and reducing toxicity. The most frequently used herbal medicines in the three literature types were qi-invigorating herbs, such as Atractylodes, Astragalus, Codonopsis, Glycyrrhiza and Ginseng, etc. The herbal medicines for promoting urination to subside swelling such as tuckahoe and Semen Coicis, etc were used more frequently than the herbal medicines for regulating qi such as dried orange peel and putchuck, etc, as well as for clearing away heat to remove toxin such as spreading hedyotis herb, Herba Scutellariae Barbatae, yangtao actinidia root, and Rhizoma Paridis, etc. From another angle, the most frequently used herbal medicines for the treatment of gatric cancer were those cold, warm and neutral in nature, sweet, bitter and pungent in taste, and distributed to spleen and liver channels.

Key words: Gastric cancer, Chinese herbal drugs, Fomula composing principles