Long-term Benefit of Chinese and Western Therapies for the Prognosis of Lung Cancer Patients: Matched Case-Control Study (2-1)

Lung Cancer has a poorer prognosis and its five-year survival rate is merely 15%. When facing the menace of lung cancer, people in Taiwan tend to use combined therapies of Complementary/Alternative Medicine (CAM). Among them, the most common one is the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Although the use of CAM is quite common and relevant literature has gradually increased as well, the clinical benefit of TCM is seldom objectively evaluated in research literature. Until present, researchers have not combined objective indicators with subjective ones to compare the long-term benefit of Western medicine, or combined therapy for the prognosis of lung cancer patients; hence the motivation to probe into this study is aroused. This study is a 2-year matched case-control study, and the subjects at Chang Gung Medical Center in northern, central, and southern Taiwan are enrolled simultaneously. For controlling the possible confounding variables, lung cancer patients who meet the inclusion criteria are matched (on gender, and cancer stage) and selected to Western therapy group, and combined therapy group. Measurement scales such as Symptom Distress Scale, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status Rating , and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire are used to measure the symptom distress, performance status, and quality of life of patients from two groups before the formal treatment and at month 1, month 3, month 6, and month 12 after the treatment, respectively. In addition, chart review is performed to collect the information of important prognostic indicators such as survival rate, median survival time, occurrence of metastasis, and when the metastasis occurred at each time point for analysis. To increase the response rate of the study, the information of each subject is collected by one researcher during the study. Fifteen patients who received western therapy and 15 patients who received combined therapy will be recruited for this study. Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) and Cox’s proportional hazards model are used to analyze the long-term influence of Chinese and Western therapies on the prognosis of lung caner patients. The findings of this study will provide a valuable reference for combined therapy in clinical care.

Project ID:PG10007-0100
External Project ID:CCMP100-RD-047