The Famous TCM Formula Wuwei Xiaodu Drink Shows Some Efficacy in Treating Heat-Toxin-Type Cancer

I once came across a late case treated by the veteran TCM physician Kong Sibo: a patient with widely metastatic advanced intestinal cancer, whom Dr. Kong kept alive for six and a half years using modified Wuwei Xiaodu Yin (Five-Ingredient Antidotal Beverage).

A few years ago, after Dr. Kong passed away, the patient's family sought treatment from Dr. Kong's disciples and then from another famous anti-cancer physician in the capital, but the results were poor; the patient passed away not long after Dr. Kong's death.

The patient's daughter collected all the prescriptions Dr. Kong Sibo had written for her mother over the years and gave them to me for reference. Over six and a half years, Dr. Kong's formulas were basically never far from Wuwei Xiaodu Yin. The common base formula was as follows:

Yejuhua (wild chrysanthemum) 6 g, Tiankuizi (Semiaquilegia) 6 g, Pugongying (dandelion) 6 g, Zihu Diding (Viola) 6 g, Jinyinhua (honeysuckle) 15 g.

Dr. Kong used simple formulas with few herbs; over six-plus years, few prescriptions contained more than fifteen herbs, and most contained fewer than ten, with dosages mostly only 6 g or 9 g. He basically made additions and subtractions of a few herbs on the basis of the five above according to new symptoms appearing at each visit, to address whatever symptoms the patient then had.

Treating cancer with medicines so simple, convenient, and inexpensive, yet with such marked efficacy, fully embodies the TCM principle of treating disease to save the world and bring life to people.

I have also seen another veteran TCM physician, Dr. Wang Taiyuan of Guizhou, treat a different cancer patient: stage III ovarian cancer, who after integrated Chinese-Western treatment has survived more than five years with no recurrence to date. When treating this patient, Dr. Wang also used modified Wuwei Xiaodu Yin.

Wuwei Xiaodu Yin is a famous TCM formula from the Yizong Jinjian (Golden Mirror of Medicine). Its function is to clear heat and detoxify, reduce swelling and disperse nodules; it belongs to the heat-clearing formulas. Clinically, among various infectious and suppurative diseases, whenever a rapid pulse, red tongue with yellow coating, redness, swelling, heat, and pain, or dry mouth and tongue are seen, Wuwei Xiaodu Yin may be used as appropriate, regardless of the Western disease name.

According to the Yizong Jinjian, Wuwei Xiaodu Yin treats "early-stage ding-nail sores, fever and chills, sores as hard as grains, with hard roots deep like iron nails, as well as yong, yang, and jie swellings with redness, swelling, heat and pain, red tongue with yellow coating, and rapid pulse." Clinically, various acute inflammations—such as urinary tract infection, cholecystitis, pneumonia, and epidemic encephalitis B and other acute infectious diseases presenting with heat-toxin patterns—can also be treated with Wuwei Xiaodu Yin.

Other clinicians have reported that Wuwei Xiaodu Yin also has some efficacy in treating erythromelalgia, acne, rosacea, folliculitis, ding sores, purpura, and leukemia when these present with heat-toxin patterns.

When I treat cancer patients, if I see a rapid pulse, hard dry stool, scanty difficult urination, and a red tongue with yellow coating, I often combine Wuwei Xiaodu Yin with modified Shengjiang San (Ascending-Descending Powder), adding corresponding herbs; the results are also fairly satisfactory. I once treated a lung-cancer patient long-term with the combination of these two formulas, and her condition was kept very stable. The base combined formula was:

Yejuhua 6 g, Tiankuizi 6 g, Pugongying 6 g, Zihu Diding 6 g, Jinyinhua 15 g, Pianjianghuang (Curcuma longa slice) 6 g, Chao Jiangcan (fried Bombyx) 10 g, Chanyi (cicada slough) 6 g.

If stool is difficult, add raw rhubarb or cooked rhubarb. One may further combine Xiaoluo Wan (Scrophularia 12 g, Zhe Beimu 12 g, raw oyster shell 30 g) into this formula. As long as pattern differentiation is appropriate, the patient will see initial results within two months; the tumor will shrink or be controlled. Once such efficacy appears, one may persist in this approach, which can bring the patient a relatively satisfactory survival time and quality of life.

It is also worth noting that whether physician, patient, or family, when the treatment is working well, one must not be impatient or frequently change the treatment approach.

The veteran TCM physician Yue Meizhong once said that chronic diseases require a fixed formula adhered to over time. Cancer requires long-term treatment; repeatedly changing the prescribing approach is not for the patient's benefit.

The widely metastatic intestinal-cancer patient treated by Dr. Kong Sibo persisted throughout in treatment centered on Wuwei Xiaodu Yin. Looking at Dr. Kong's prescriptions over six-plus years, I rarely saw one that changed this approach. When changes occurred, it was mostly because the patient had a cold or similar issue that needed to be resolved first before resuming anti-cancer treatment.

In my clinic I often encounter patients or families who expect the doctor to write a brand-new prescription every day; if one doctor cannot satisfy this demand, they switch to another. Such patients mostly die untreated in the end. In reality, their psychological problems are more serious than their physical ones.

TCM prescriptions must grasp the principal contradiction and resolve it. The principal problem in cancer patients is that the tumor endangers life; resolving the tumor is the urgent priority. There is no need to obsess over every minor symptom.

Reading the case records of veteran physicians such as He Ren, Zhao Shaoqin, and Yue Meizhong, I often see them keep the same prescription for patients for years. Even though many symptoms remain unresolved, the patients survive long-term; such efficacy is well worth affirming.