Press release - Immediate release
November 5, 2019
HKACS-HKBU Chinese Medicine Centre: A pioneer of Integrated Chinese-
Western Medicine in Hong Kong
A 9-year clinical observation shows that Chinese medicine can help cancer patients reduce side effects of western cancer therapies
Cancer is the no. 1 killer in the city. As people used to worry that Chinese medicine might interfere with their Western medicine treatments, or simply wouldn't consider Chinese medicine until the late stage, cancer treatments are largely dominated by Western medicine in Hong Kong. However, with Chinese medicine recognized as effective in treating cancer in recent years, the practice of combining Chinese and Western medicine has become increasingly popular. Since 2009, Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society-Hong Kong Baptist University Chinese Medicine Centre (The Centre) has been committed to promoting Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine. As a pioneer of this model, the Centre conducted a 9-year clinical observation and found that Chinese medicine can help reduce the side effects of chemotherapies, thereby improving the quality of life of cancer patients.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the HKACS-HKBU Chinese Medicine Centre. Today (November 5), Professor Sophia CHAN Siu-chee, JP, Secretary for Food and Health, together with Dr. LEONG Che-hung, GBS, OBE, JP, President of Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society, Mrs. Patricia CHU Yeung Pak-yu, BBS, Chairman of HKACS, President and Vice-Chancellor Prof. Roland T CHIN of Hong Kong Baptist University, Prof. LYU Aiping, Dean and Prof. BIAN Zhaoxiang, Director of Clinical Division, Hong Kong Baptist University's School of Chinese Medicine officiated at the 10th Anniversary Ceremony of the Centre.
Established in March 2009, the HKACS-HKBU Chinese Medicine Centre not only provides general Chinese medicine services to outpatients and inpatients, but also specialises in cancer treatment. The treatments include prescription and decoction of Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, traditional Chinese physical therapies (i.e. tui na), etc. Over the past 10 years, the Centre has served approximately 75,000 attendances.
"With the unique theories of Chinese medicine, practitioners conduct analysis on cancer patients' condition using holistic approach. The use of Chinese medicine, acupuncture and dietotherapy can improve the overall condition of patients, as well as enhance the therapeutic efficacy and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. These will ease the suffering of cancer patients, improve their quality of life and eventually prolong their survival," Prof. Sophia CHAN Siu-chee, Secretary for Food and Health, said. "By providing integrated services, the HKACS-HKBU Chinese Medicine Centre plays a crucial role in the development of integrating Chinese and Western medicine treatments in Hong Kong."
A pioneer of Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Treatment in Hong Kong
Chinese and Western medicine have their unique approaches in treating cancer. Western medicine is single target-oriented, which means it aims to remove the cancer cells through surgeries or chemotherapy, radiotherapy or targeted therapy. However, complete removal of cancer cells is not always possible. Meanwhile, Chinese medicine is multi target-oriented. It aims to improve patients' overall health and body's self-healing ability to achieve harmony and balance; as well as boost their immune system to suppress uncontrolled growth and metastasis of cancer cells.
The HKACS-HKBU Chinese Medicine Centre maintains that patients' radio- /diagnostic and/or pathology reports should be used as reference when treating cancer. "By doing so, Chinese medicine practitioners are able to make more accurate diagnoses. In the Centre, Chinese and Western Medicine Practitioners participate in integrated Chinese and Western medicine consultations when necessary. In doing this, it helps to develop a treatment plan that best suits the patients," Mrs. Patricia CHU, BBS, Chairman of HKACS, explained.
On top of the Chinese medicine theories, the HKACS-HKBU Chinese Medicine Centre conducts clinical observations adopting the methodology of Western clinical studies. The results are used to further understand the efficacy of Chinese medicine in treating cancer, with a view to enabling cancer patients to achieve timely initiation of treatment, improve treatment efficacy, reduce side effects and complete their planned western treatments on time.
Chinese and Western Medicine working in parallel can help manage cancer symptoms and reduce side effects
In the past, people generally believed that combining Chinese and Western medicine would have inimical effects and thus should be avoided. Many cancer patients wouldn't consider seeking Chinese medicine treatments until the late stage when they would like to reduce the side effects of Western medicine. Therefore, cancer patients who adopt Chinese medicine treatments were mostly seniors or those who have given up on Western medicine treatments.
"In recent years, the public has realised the benefits of integrating Chinese and Western medicine. They tend to seek additional treatments from Chinese medicine practitioners after being diagnosed by Western medicine doctors," Prof. Lyu Aiping, Dean of Hong Kong Baptist University's School of Chinese Medicine, said. "Chinese and Western Medicine working in parallel is more effective in managing cancer symptoms and reducing side effects. This allows patients to complete their western medicine treatments in a timely manner."
The type of cancers that are more commonly treated with Chinese and Western combined treatment include lung cancer, colorectal cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer and breast cancer.
The development of the HKACS-HKBU Chinese Medicine Centre's Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine model for cancer treatment follows these three main directions: (i) alleviating symptoms of cancer and reducing treatment- induced side effects; (ii) boosting patients' immune systems to enable timely completion of chemotherapy and targeted therapies; and (iii) reduce progression of cancer cells and ideally shrinking the tumor.
Acupuncture combined with herbal medicine can help relieve peripheral neuropathy
A clinical observation conducted by the Centre showed that Chinese herbal medicines used in combination with acupuncture can help relieve chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. According to Dr. LIU Yulong, Principal Lecturer of Hong Kong Baptist University's School of Chinese Medicine Clinical Division, the commonly used chemotherapy drugs today include paclitaxel, alkaloids, platinum, etc. Some of them can cause peripheral neuropathy which gives patients symmetrical numbness or pain in fingers and toes.
The Centre conducted a clinical observation during Oct 2009 Oct 2018, which analysed 128 cases of patients who were aged 18 to 75 years and experiencing peripheral neurosensory disturbances after having received 4 to 6 weeks of standard chemotherapy for colorectal cancer or other cancer treatments. Upon three sessions of twice-weekly acupuncture combined with a daily dose of Chinese herbal medicines (oral and hand & foot bath), 79% of the patients (out of 101 cases) showed symptom improvement in peripheral neuropathy, among which 25 of them showed significant improvement. For cases that showed no improvement, all the patients had reached grade 3 peripheral neuropathy, which means they were already suffering from intolerable sensory abnormalities or significant mobility impairment.
"Combining Chinese herbal medicines with acupuncture is more effective in treating the initial peripheral neurotoxicity caused by paclitaxel and oxaliplatin than other chemotherapy drugs," Dr. Liu added. "The earlier the treatment starts, the better the results."
In recent years, various studies have pointed out that the integrated model has shown remarkable results in treating cancer. In addition to further improvement in treatment efficacy, it can also reduce the side effects of Western medicines. Dr. Liu encouraged cancer patients to proactively adopt this model of treatment to facilitate timely completion of treatment courses and better quality of life.
