Sequential oesophago-bronchoscopy

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of Chinese medicinal herbs (CMH) and chemotherapy on non-small cell lung cancer. METHODS: Comparing the therapeutic effects of three treatment regimens on 58 advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who were treated with CMH plus chemotherapy (CT), 28 cases treated with CT only, and 24 cases treated with CMH alone. RESULTS: Effective rates (partial remission + complete remission) were 22.9% in CMH + CT group, 13.6% both in CT and in CMH group. There were no significant differences between these three groups according to the short-term results (P > 0.05). Mean survival time (month) for CMH + CT, CT and CMH groups were 10.2, 5.3 and 8.0 respectively. The survival rate (Kaplan Meicr method) of both CMH + CT and CMH group were significantly higher than that of CT group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05) but no significant difference between CMH and CMH + CT group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Chinese medicinal herbs were helpful to improve median survival time and survival rate of patients with advanced NSCLC.