Three Effective Cancer Cases Treated with Modified Yanghe Decoction

In clinical practice, I have again used modified Yanghe Tang to treat cancer with marked short-term effects: one patient with small-cell lung cancer and one with peritoneal mesothelioma. Judging from signs of yang deficiency such as aversion to cold, cold limbs, and anemia, I used Yanghe Tang as the base for both, modifying herbs according to specific symptoms and co-administering Xihuang Wan (Rhinoceros Horn Bezoar Pill). The regimen was basically seven days on, seven days off, or stopped as soon as loose stool appeared. The medication is quite safe, and the short-term outcomes in both patients were excellent.

Before receiving my TCM treatment, the small-cell lung cancer patient had undergone repeated chemotherapy, with strength nearly collapsed; after the first few courses he even needed a wheelchair. I first gave a modified Bazhen Tang to regulate his qi and blood deficiency, then prescribed modified Yanghe Tang. After more than two months, the patient was spirited and as healthy as an ordinary person. A recent hospital follow-up showed the disease quite well controlled; the Western doctors at Xiangya Hospital were themselves impressed by the effect TCM had achieved.

The peritoneal mesothelioma patient, before treatment, had ascites, fatigue, lassitude, and enlarged liver and spleen. After over a month of modified Yanghe Tang combined with Xihuang Wan, his strength greatly improved. On follow-up, ascites had fallen from 4.7 cm to 3.3 cm, CA125 dropped by more than twenty, and a large nodule in the liver had begun noticeably to shrink.

Because of the seven-days-on/seven-days-off schedule, the patient actually took Chinese medicine for less than twenty days. Over a year earlier he had received Western chemotherapy; after this recurrence he refused further chemo and turned directly to TCM. After coming to me, treated with modified Yanghe Tang together with Laifuzi (radish seed) tea, his short-term outcome was likewise outstanding.

Adding an elderly lymphoma patient I had treated earlier, I now have three patients in whom Yanghe Tang achieved outstanding short-term results. That elderly lymphoma patient, after taking Yanghe Tang and Xihuang Wan, saw subcutaneous nodules rapidly disappear and recovered very quickly.

Yanghe Tang is indicated for yin-pattern patients. In treating various yin-pattern patients, including cancer, it can achieve outstanding results; it is an exceptionally valuable proven formula among famous TCM recipes for difficult and complicated diseases. I also used it for a patient with crane's-knee wind; after a week of Yanghe Tang, the chronic, lingering condition was basically cured.

When pattern differentiation is correct, Yanghe Tang's power is indeed not to be underestimated. But applying it mechanically is also very dangerous. The warnings of past TCM masters all include the admonition that yang-pattern or half-yin-half-yang patients should not let the formula touch their lips. So clinical pattern differentiation must be careful.