Traditional Chinese medicine in cancer

W. XU,
md, msc
,
Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, and Clinical
Trial Unit, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Study, Sir Mortimer B. Davis – Jewish General
Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada,
A.D. TOWERS,
md
,
Palliative Care Division, McGill University Health
Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada,
P. LI,
md
,
Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing Cancer
Hospital, Peking University School of Oncology, Hai Dian District, Beijing, China,
&
J.-P. COLLET,
md, phd
,
Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, and Clinical Trial Unit, Center
for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Study, Sir Mortimer B. Davis – Jewish General Hospital, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada
XU W., TOWERS A.D., LI P. & COLLET J.-P. (2006)
European Journal of Cancer Care
15
, 397–403
Traditional Chinese medicine in cancer care: perspectives and experiences of patients and professionals in
China
Although traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely used in Chinese cancer centres, it is a brand new
area for formal scientific evaluation. As the first step of developing a research programme on clinical evaluation
of TCM for cancer patients, we conducted a qualitative study to explore the perspectives and experiences
of Chinese cancer patients and TCM professionals. Twenty-eight persons participated in two cancer patient
focus groups and one professional focus group. Semi-structured interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and
translated. Textual transcripts and field notes underwent inductive thematic analysis. We found that patients’
decision to use TCM for cancer is a self-help process with a deep cultural grounding, which is related to the
traditional Chinese philosophy of life. Participants perceived TCM to be an effective and harmless therapy.
They highly valued the fact that TCM is tailored to patients, and believed it was the basis of an optimal and
safe treatment. Participants also highlighted the long-term positive effects, the benefit of group interventions
and the low cost as important features of TCM. Subjects believed that conducting clinical research would be
crucial for the recognition and dissemination of TCM in Western countries. The findings of this study are
expected to contribute to the knowledge base on the current TCM use for cancer in China, and to provide
useful information for developing future clinical research in this area in Western countries.

Keywords:
traditional Chinese medicine, complementary and alternative medicine, cancer care, supportive
care, symptom control, cross-cultural studies