Treating Four Cancer Patients by Boosting Qi, Promoting Diuresis, Resolving Stasis and Dissipating Nodules

Although in Western medicine cancers are named variously according to their primary site, in the TCM theoretical system of syndrome differentiation and disease differentiation, one does not necessarily care which type of cancer the patient has. TCM judges which syndrome a cancer patient belongs to mainly by the clinical symptoms presented, and treats the symptoms; in addition, according to disease differentiation, it prescribes drugs that treat the disease. By disease differentiation, cancer belongs to tangible pathogen-excess nodular diseases such as abdominal masses or sores.

So TCM treatment of cancer is nothing but a combination of disease differentiation and syndrome differentiation. From disease differentiation, cancer, being a tangible pathogen-excess nodule, needs methods such as softening hard masses and dissipating nodules, resolving phlegm and dissipating nodules, activating blood and resolving stasis, using toxin to attack toxin, and clearing heat and detoxifying, to eliminate the tumor focus.

The drugs used in disease differentiation are almost fixed: common anti-tumor herbs with the above actions, such as Xuanshen (Scrophularia), Beimu (Fritillaria), Muli (oyster shell), Haizao (Sargassum), Kunbu (Ecklonia), Sanleng (Sparganium), Ezhu (zedoary), Ruxiang (frankincense), Moyao (myrrh), Zaojiaoci (Gleditsia spine), Fabanxia (processed Pinellia), Dannanxing (bile-treated Arisaema), Huangyaozi (Dioscorea bulbifera), Walengzi (Corbula shell), Jixingzi (Impatiens seed), Pugongying (dandelion), Rendongteng (honeysuckle stem), Zihuadiding (Viola), Huangqin (Scutellaria root), Zhizi (Gardenia), Banzhilian (Scutellaria barbata), Banbianlian (Lobelia), Wugong (centipede), Quanxie (scorpion), Chansu (toad venom), Bihu (gecko), Sanqi (pseudoginseng), Qianglang (dung beetle), Hongdoushan (yew), Sanjingshan (Cephalotaxus), and Xishuguo (Camptotheca fruit).

The medication in syndrome differentiation varies from person to person. A large proportion of cancer patients have a phlegm-damp constitution, especially those who were previously on the overweight side, favored meat, had loose stools, a plump teeth-marked tongue, easy drowsiness and fatigue, low-grade fever hard to clear, and easy edema on the body surface and limbs.

For such patients, syndrome-differentiation treatment should focus on boosting qi, promoting diuresis, and reducing edema. Combined with the previously mentioned methods of activating blood and resolving stasis, softening hard masses and dissipating nodules, resolving phlegm and dissipating nodules, using toxin to attack toxin, and clearing heat and detoxifying, it will have a certain effect.

The pulses of this type of patient are mostly wiry, slippery, and rapid, or forceful or forceless, but mostly wiry and slippery. In traditional TCM, a wiry pulse is mostly considered a Shaoyang syndrome pulse. But in my experience, in cancer patients a wiry pulse mostly indicates retained fluid internally, and using large doses of diuretic and edema-reducing herbs has a good effect.

The symptoms of internal retained fluid are very common in cancer patients. When cancer patients reach the late stage, many develop pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, ascites, pelvic effusion, and other fluid accumulations; these effusions are the accumulation of retained fluid. When a wiry pulse is seen, administering a diuretic and edema-reducing formula often has an unexpected effect.

Diuretic and edema-reducing herbs I commonly use include raw Huangqi (Astragalus), Han Fangji (Stephania tetrandra), Fuling (Poria), Zhuling (Polyporus), Chuan Mutong (Clematis armandii), Yiyiren (Coix seed), Cheqiancao (Plantago herb), Cheqianzi (Plantago seed), Huai Niuxi (Achyranthes), Tengligen (Actinidia root), Shiwei (Pyrrosia), Baizhu (Atractylodes), Zelan (Lycopus), Zhizi (Gardenia), Yimucao (Motherwort), Dongguapi (wintermelon peel), and Dafupi (areca peel).

It should be noted that Mu Fangji (Aristolochia fangchi) and Guan Mutong (Aristolochia manshuriensis) belong to the birthwort family and have strong nephrotoxicity; as early as 2004, the Chinese government banned these drugs. Han Fangji and Chuan Mutong belong to different plant families; they are not Aristolochiaceae and are not nephrotoxic. Some patients, having read reports of side effects of related herbs, feel afraid when they see a doctor prescribe Han Fangji and Chuan Mutong; we must patiently explain and dispel their misgivings.

I use Zexie (Alisma) relatively rarely because of its hepatotoxicity; in some patients it easily causes abnormal liver function. I also use Huashi (talc) relatively rarely because patients say it tastes too bad to swallow. I also often use Daji (Cirsium) and Xiaoji (Cephalanoplos) as diuretic and edema-reducing herbs. In the textbooks these two are classified as blood-cooling hemostatics, but they also have a good diuretic effect and additionally reduce swelling, relieve pain, and stop bleeding. I once saw a folk physician use only Xiaoji to successfully reduce ascites in an ovarian cancer patient, so I have since often used these two herbs as diuretics.

Diuretic and edema-reducing herbs belong to the diuretic category. In traditional TCM theory, such herbs have a spleen-strengthening action. But excessive spleen-strengthening has the side effect of damaging the kidney, easily leading to aching and weakness of the lower back and knees. In fact, by modern medicine, excessive diuresis causes electrolyte disturbance and loss of trace elements, so the legs easily become weak. In view of this, when I compose formulas I often use the Four Kidney Herbs: Mohanlian (Eclipta), Nuzhenzi (Ligustrum), Shayuanzi (Astragalus complanatus seed), and Tusizi (Cuscuta seed), to prevent these side effects.

In addition, many patients simultaneously develop abdominal distension and indigestion, and when multiple herbs are used one must also prevent iatrogenic indigestion and distension. So I often add to the decoction such qi-regulating, distension-reducing, spleen-awakening, and stomach-strengthening herbs as Houpo (Magnolia bark), Jiao San Xian (charred three immortals), Muxiang (Aucklandia), Sharen (Amomum), Huoxiang (Agastache), and Peilan (Eupatorium).

Among cancer patients, many are weak after various treatments. On top of the above herbs, one should also add tonics such as Renshen (Ginseng) or Dangshen (Codonopsis), Huangjing (Polygonatum), Lingzhi (Ganoderma), and Danggui (Angelica).

Combinations like this often have an immediate effect. Symptomatic patients may feel their symptoms markedly relieved on the very day they take the medicine; patients without obvious symptoms may, after taking it for a while, find on examination that their tumor markers have declined and their tumor has shrunk.

I once treated a professor at a university in Lanzhou. This professor was a double-cancer patient; when he came, both legs were edematous and he could no longer walk, and his family pushed him in a wheelchair to see me. According to the above approach, I prescribed a very large formula with sixty or seventy herbs in total.

On the very day he took the medicine, his urination increased markedly, and that night the leg edema was already visibly reduced. In less than a week he could leave the wheelchair and walk with support; half a month later, his walking was basically normal.

This patient also had very stubborn constipation. While using the above approach, I also included Dahuang (rhubarb) and Mangxiao (Glauber salt) in the decoction. The dosage of both followed the principle of gradually increasing from small to large. This patient needed 30g Dahuang and 30g Mangxiao per day to move the bowels, which is relatively unusual.

Although this patient had widespread metastases throughout the body, after I treated him with the approach of boosting qi, promoting diuresis, reducing edema, resolving stasis and dissipating nodules, together with Western PD-1 therapy, the tumor disappeared, his health recovered, and he is still alive today.

I also once treated an ovarian cancer patient in Xingtai whose ovarian tumor had not received Western treatment. When she came, she was also critically ill, with severe pleural effusion and pericardial effusion and an ovarian mass of about 10 cm. I treated her using the above approach, and additionally prescribed Xihuang Wan and Compound Mylabris Capsules for oral use. After about three months, her CA125 dropped markedly and the mass shrank by nearly half.

After further treatment for a while, the patient stopped the medicine for several months for her own reasons, and her condition relapsed. Treating her again with the above approach was once more effective, achieving the outcome that both the tumor markers and the tumor were controlled. She was treated for over a year in all. But this year, a severe cold led to pneumonia; while the cold and pneumonia were being treated at a local hospital, she ultimately died of a pulmonary infection, which is a great pity.

Over the 2018 Spring Festival, I treated a patient with thoracic mesothelioma, an employee of the Huabei Oilfield Administration. When she came, her family again pushed her in a wheelchair, and she had severe pleural effusion. Previous Western and other TCM treatments had failed. The patient had chills and shoulder-back pain, so on top of the above approach I combined Guizhi Jia Gegen Tang (Cinnamon Twig plus Kudzu Decoction) to treat her.

After a month of treatment, the patient could leave the wheelchair and walk about ten thousand steps a day. After about half a year, her tumor had shrunk by about 80%.

Afterward her condition also rebounded, but treatment with this approach was still able to maintain a good quality of life. To this day this patient survives with tumor and is able to care for herself.

The approach I used was also effective in treating an employee of the Guangxi Hydroelectric Design Institute who had lymphoma. After developing lymphoma, this patient was treated at a local hospital for four months, and when his condition progressed, he came to see me.

When he arrived he had tumors in many places all over his body. I treated him for over a year in all, eliminating the lymphoma under his neck, but could not resolve his inguinal lymphoma, which continued to grow.

Later, because of obstructed inguinal lymphatic return, this patient developed lower-limb edema and again asked me to address it. I therefore treated him with the approach of boosting qi, promoting diuresis, reducing edema, resolving stasis and dissipating nodules. One month after using this approach, the inguinal lymphoma shrank by 1 cm; after the second month it shrank a further 2 cm. At present this patient symptoms have improved markedly, and treatment is continuing.

The above patients suffered from different diseases, yet the treatment approach I used was the same, with largely similar medications. This precisely embodies the advantage of TCM treating different diseases with the same method. The measures I used took account of both syndrome differentiation and disease differentiation, with a strong sense of purpose. In the words of the old physician Professor Yin Huihe, grasping the principal contradiction. Diuresis and tumor reduction were primary, and everything else secondary. Although the individuals had different diseases, using the same method, all achieved good therapeutic results.

I have always believed that TCM treatment of cancer must be able to find a clear approach and definite prescribing rules, and cannot be a blind cat catching a dead mouse. The approach of boosting qi, promoting diuresis, reducing edema, resolving stasis and dissipating nodules is a very reliable one. Although it cannot solve the problems of all cancer patients, it can indeed resolve the problems of some cancer patients with severe phlegm-dampness and retained fluid.