[Influence of Chinese herbal medicine Feitai Capsule on completion or delay of chemotherapy in patients with stage IIIB/IV non-small-cell lung cancer: a randomized controlled trial].

Background: Chemotherapy completion rate can reflect the tolerance and compliance of patients to chemotherapy. Poor tolerance may result in delay or suspension of the comprehensive treatment plan, thus affect the efficacy of cancer treatment. Evaluating methods to improve the completion rate of chemotherapy and reduce the occurrence of delayed chemotherapy has gained increasing attention and is the significant area of study in the field of cancer treatment. Studies have shown that Chinese medicine combined with chemotherapy could improve the quality of life in patients with stage IIIB/IV non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Objective: To observe the effects of Feitai Capsule, a Chinese patent herbal drug, combined with chemotherapy in patients with stage IIIB/IV NSCLC.

Design, Setting, Participants And Interventions: A total of 60 diagnosed stage IIIB/IV NSCLC patients from the Department of Oncology, Fuzhou General Hosipital of Najing Military Region were randomly divided into treatment group (30 cases) and control group (30 cases). Patients in the treatment group were treated with chemotherapy plus Feitai Capsule and patients in the control group only received chemotherapy. Both groups of patients were treated for 4 therapeutic cycles.

Main Outcome Measures: The chemotherapy completion rate and the chemotherapy delay rate were observed in each cycle of treatment. The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated after 4 cycles.

Results: The chemotherapy completion rate was 96.42% in the treatment group, while that of the control group was 74.07%. The chemotherapy delay rate was 3.57% in the treatment group, while that of the control group was 14.8% (P=0.007 0). The disease control rate was 78.6% in the treatment group, while that of the control group was 59.3% (P=0.173 9).

Conclusion: Feitai Capsule can increase the chemotherapy completion rate in patients with stage IIIB/IV NSCLC.