探討中藥治療與轉移性攝護腺癌患者之存活
柳瑞明, 林柏宏1, 林舜穀2, 許仁駿3
衛生福利部桃園醫院 外科部 泌尿科; 1林口長庚醫院 泌尿科；2臺北市立聯合醫院 仁愛醫院 中醫部 3 三軍總醫院 病理部
Complementary Traditional Chinese Medicine Therapy Improves Survival in Patients with Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Jui-Ming Liu, Po-Hung Lin1, Shun-Ku Lin 2, Ren-Jun Hsu 3
Division of Urology,Department of Surgery Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare
1 Department of Urology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
2 Department of Chinese medicine, Taipei City Hospital, Ren-Ai Branch
3 Department of Pathology and Graduate Institute of Pathology and Parasitology, the Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Background
More than 50% of prostate cancer patients have used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Taiwan. However, the long-term clinical efficacy of TCM in prostate cancer patients remains unclear. Here, we investigated the relationship between TCM use and the survival of prostate cancer patients.
Methods
A retrospective nationwide cohort study of prostate cancer patients was conducted between 1998 and 2003 using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database.. The association between death risk and TCM use was determined using Cox proportional hazards models and Kaplan-Meier curves.
Results
Of the 1132 selected prostate cancer patients, 730 (64.5%) and 402 (35.5%) were TCM users and non-usrs, respectively. The mean follow-up period was 8.38 years, and 292 (25.8%) deaths were reported. TCM users had a decreased mortality rate (21.9%) compared to non-users (32.8%). A lower death risk was observed with longer TCM use, especially in patients who used TCM for ≧200 days (aHR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.44–0.84). TCM users with metastatic prostate cancer had a significant lower hazard ratio than non-users (aHR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.51–0.95). Conclusion
The result suggested that TCM might be associated with a reduced risk of death in metastatic prostate cancer patients