Topical Toad Application for Treating Cancerous Masses

In TCM external medicine, the toad is a treasure. Many external-medicine conditions rely on the toad's "using poison to attack poison" for treatment. The famous TCM educator Professor Wang Mianzhi, when lecturing on Formula Studies, once mentioned that in his childhood back home, when children grew sores on their bodies, the elders would take one toad, slaughter and clean it, and cook it to eat; eating one or two in summer kept the child from being prone to sores.

Toads are poisonous, and this method of directly eating them is not safe. From time to time we see news reports of people dying from toad poisoning, though of course there are also cancer patients who have cured their own cancer by eating toads. It is no surprise that toads can cure cancer; Huachansu (cinobufacin) extracted from toads is already a commonly used anti-cancer drug.

TCM external medicine has another way of using toads to treat disease: external application. Compared with orally ingesting toads and toad preparations, using toads topically is far safer.

A famous Sichuan anti-cancer TCM physician, Yan Rongguang, has a family-external toad method: evenly spread 0.5g of Xingshuang (arsenic trioxide) on a toad skin with blood, and apply it externally to palpable tumors on the body surface; reportedly this method has a fairly good tumor-dissolving effect. Generally, one toad skin can be applied for 24–48 hours, but some patients may be allergic to toads, so the application time should vary by person, and if obvious discomfort arises it should be removed at once. Now arsenic has been classified as a controlled drug and is not easy to buy, but many hospital hematology departments have arsenic trioxide injection that can perhaps be used instead. According to Dr. Yan Rongguang's granddaughter, Dr. Yan Yaling, who told the author, her family has now also abandoned the external use of arsenic and switched to directly applying toad skin, which is also effective.

Elder Yan was not the first to use bloodied toads topically on tumors; Wang Hongxu of the Qing dynasty, in his book Waike Zhengzhi Quansheng Ji, already described this method, showing it to be safe and effective. In the chapter "Treatment Methods for Breast Rock," the book says: "Externally use six large toads; each morning and evening take a toad, open its abdomen and leave the entrails, prick holes in the toad's body, and apply it to the mouth of the lesion; apply for three consecutive days. Internally take Qianjin Tuoli San, and after three days take Xihuang Wan (author's note: i.e., the present Xihuang Wan). This can save three or four in ten; where after ulceration there is no pain but extreme itching, not one can be saved."

Breast Rock is what is today called breast cancer; Wang Hongxu described the treatment after the tumor had ulcerated. Wang took a live toad, opened its abdomen, kept its innards, pricked holes in the toad, and applied it directly to the patient's ulcerated tumor. Wang also said this method is unsuitable for patients whose tumor, after ulcerating, itches but does not hurt. For patients with pain after ulceration, the success rate is about 30–40%.

Modern city dwellers do not find live toads easily, and the above external method is not easy to carry out, so in recent years some TCM physicians have patients buy dried toad skin from the pharmacy, moisten it in yellow wine, and apply it to the affected area. Some TCM physicians grind toad skin into powder, add an excipient such as Vaseline, and make their own secret plaster for external use. Although this treatment is not as effective as using fresh toads, it still has the effect of reducing swelling and stopping pain.

It is just that toads have a certain toxicity; a few patients may experience skin allergy during topical use, and prolonged use may cause cumulative poisoning. Cinobufacin and bufalin in toads have a stimulating effect on the heart, so heart-disease patients must be careful when using them and stop if they feel unwell.

To many people, this method of directly applying toads seems too gruesome to accept. Modern times have seen many external plasters made from toads, such as compound Chan'su plaster, Chanwu gel plaster, and Chanwu cataplasm; these plasters contain the active components of toads, so patients who cannot directly use toads externally can also consider applying these plasters.