Can Chinese Herbs Reduce the Side-Effects of Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer?

Dr. Debu Tripathy and researchers at the Breast Care Center are now conducting a study to assess the feasibility of using Chinese Herbal Therapy to alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy. Patients may be eligible to participate if they have been diagnosed with Stage I or Stage II breast cancer; are not currently taking herbal medicines; and will be receiving Adriamycin and Cytoxan (AC) chemotherapy.

This study will assess the feasibility of using a formula of 21 Chinese herbs to alleviate chemotherapy's side effects. Although many of these herbs are widely available, this particular formula has been created specifically for this study, and has received an Investigational New Drug license from the FDA. This study is randomized; patients have an equal chance of receiving the herbal therapy formula or an inactive placebo. However, all patients will continue to have access to regular supportive measures (including standard medications) for side-effects of chemotherapy throughout the trial.

Participants in this study will begin taking the herbal formula or placebo two weeks before their first chemotherapy treatments, and will take it each day for a six-month period. Throughout the trial, patients' progress and the side effects of chemotherapy and herbal therapy will be followed closely by the Breast Care Center's research team, which includes a medical oncologist, epidemiologist, and licensed herbalist/ acupuncturist. The examinations by the Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, herbal formula, and any laboratory work needed specifically for the study will be provided free of charge. This trial is the first in the United States to investigate the use of herbal therapy for breast cancer, and is one of several clinical trials on alternative breast cancer therapies currently being planned at the Breast Care Center.