Background and purpose:Huachansu has been widely used to treat cancer in China.But maximum tolerated dose(MTD) of huachansu is still not well defined.The purpose of this study was to conduct a Phase Ⅰ study to determine the MTD of huachansu in the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma,non-small cell lung or pancreatic cancer.Toxic profile and efficacy of huachansu were also assessed qualitatively.Methods:Huachansu was intravenously administered to patients with stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ hepatocellular carcinoma,non-small cell lung cancer,or pancreatic cancer.Each cycle consisted of daily huachansu for 14 days with an interval of 7 days between two cycles.2 or more cycles were delivered to the patients if no severe adverse event occurred.The planned dose escalation schedule for huachansu was as follows,10,20,40,60,90 and 120 ml/(m2?d).Results:Fifteen patients(3 at each level) have been recruited to the study(11 with hepatocellular carcinoma,2 with pancreatic cancer,and 2 with lung cancer).There were no dose limiting toxicities found after dose level 5.Among all these patients,the efficacy in 14 patients could be valued,in which,6 were SD(42.9%),8 were PD(57.1%).At dose level 1,there was one patient with hepatocellular carcinoma achieving a 20% reduction in tumor mass that lasted 11 months,6 of 15(42.9%) patients with stable disease and 8 of 15(57.1%) with progress disease after the treatment.Conclusions:To date,dose limiting toxicity has not been seen with doses up to eight times higher than that typically used before.Of interest, several patients had prolonged stable disease or minor tumor shrinkage.

OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the effects of the Chinese medicine (CM) five-element music on quality of life for senior and non-senior advanced cancer patients.

METHODSWith a randomized controlled trial, 170 advanced cancer patients were randomly assigned to three groups: the CM five-element music group (68 patients), the Western music therapy group (68 cases), and the no music therapy group (34 cases). All patients of 70 years old or older were considered seniors and the remaining patients younger than 70 years were considered nonseniors. Patients in the CM five-element music group listened to CM five-element music, the patients in the Western music group listened to Western music, and the patients in the no music group did not listen to music. A course of treatment was 3 weeks, with 30 min each day, 5 days a week. The Hospice Quality of Life Index-Revised (HQOLI-R) and Karnofsky performance score (KPS) were measured in the three groups before and after treatment. The symptom diary score was measured in the three groups every 3 days, 7 times in total.

RESULTSCM five-element music group showed a significant difference of HQOLI-R, KPS and symptom diary score with other groups (all P<0.01). There were significant differences of HQOLI-R, symptom diary score, and KPS after treatment in CM five-element music group and other groups in the non-senior subgroup (P<0.05). Additionally, there were significant differences in HQOLI-R and KPS after treatment among the three groups in the senior subgroup (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSCM five-element music therapy could improve the quality of life and KPS for senior and non senior advanced cancer patients, and it could improve subjective symptoms for non-senior advanced cancer patients.

Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Music ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neoplasms ; pathology ; therapy ; Quality of Life ; Treatment Outcome