Traditional herbal medicine as an adjuvant treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most common cancers and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. In East Asia, traditional herbal medicine (THM) is commonly used in clinical settings for the treatment of cancer. Therefore, the aim of the present review was to systematically assess the efficacy of THM with varied components for the treatment of NSCLC. Methods: This study identified randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the effectiveness of combined THM and chemotherapy (CTx) in searches of English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language databases. Results: This meta-analysis systematically reviewed 27 RCTs involving 2382 patients and found that THM improved the quality of life (QoL) significantly for patients with NSCLC. Improvement in QoL was seen in 19 studies using the Karnofsky Performance Status score, three studies using the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group scale, three studies using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung scale, and six studies using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer. Conclusions: The pooled results of this systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that THM significantly improved the QoL for patients with NSCLC.