TCM Treatment of Lung Cancer Should Prioritize Protecting the Body's Original Qi

The lung governs the body's respiration; in treating lung cancer, priority should be given to protecting the body's great qi. This is a lesson I summed up after failing in several lung cancer cases—a truly bitter lesson.

In lung cancer treatment, qi-moving and qi-breaking herbs should not be overused; among blood-activating herbs, those with fragrant, drying qualities are also contraindicated; and in treating the breathlessness of lung cancer patients, qi-downbearing herbs should be avoided. Many cancers first metastasize to the lung; once lung metastasis appears, one must fully consider that the lung governs the whole body's great qi.

The lung is the heaven among the five zang; clear yang resides above. Once original qi fails, the body declines at once, very rapidly—hence late-stage lung cancer patients die quickly. The lung is a delicate organ, intolerant of cold or heat; treating lung cancer, excessive coldness and excessive dryness-heat are both improper.

Lung qi should be clear and downward; its function is to maintain the turnover of body fluids and the refined essence of food and water, and lung qi commands blood throughout the body. When lung qi fails to vent, the body's original qi declines, clear and turbid are not distinguished, and shortness of breath, cough with upward rushing qi, profuse phlegm, and wheezy fullness easily appear. General TCM books hold that lung cancer treatment should downbear qi and calm wheezing; but my clinical practice has found this treatment principle problematic when applied to lung cancer patients.

To date, there is no clear direction for TCM pattern differentiation in lung cancer. Generally, late-stage lung cancer has a short survival; treatment should prioritize maintaining the patient's quality of life. On this basis, by improving the patient's constitution and moderately expelling pathogen, one treats the tumor and can achieve relatively satisfactory results.

Treating lung cancer must not lightly attack the great qi in the chest. The whole body depends on this chest qi; once it fails, the body's breath is isolated and endangered, which is very dangerous. The lung sits in the upper burner, so medication should be light and sparing.

Treating the lung lies in securing the root; securing the root lies in tonifying the kidney and spleen. If kidney and spleen are unsecure, leaking diarrhea will not stop and original qi will be imperiled. Seeing wheezing, do not move qi; the breathlessness of lung cancer patients must be addressed by supplementing qi and blood, strengthening the spleen and kidney, and tonifying lung qi. Moving and smoothing qi backfires. Use still herbs rather than moving herbs to calm wheezing; the wheeze of lung cancer should be settled with still herbs, not smoothed with moving ones.

Lung cancer medication as a whole should be sweet and warm; avoid cold and cool, avoid fragrant and dry. In treating the lung, do not injure the spleen and kidney: cold and cool damage spleen yang; leaking and draining damage kidney essence. When lung cancer patients are deficient and need tonification, Shiquan Dabu Tang minus qi-moving herbs, plus Tiandong and Maidong, Bei Wuweizi, Huangjing, Baihe, Jiaogulan, and Shidagonglao, gives good results.

The high fever that appears in lung cancer patients must not be treated as a heat pattern; follow Li Dongyuan's teaching of dispersing great heat with sweet warmth, prioritizing boosting qi and raising yang. In short: in treating the lung, do not damage qi or injure yang.