ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1595640
This article is part of the Research TopicCancer prevention and therapy using herbal formulations of natural immune modulatorsView all articles
Chinese herbal medicine improves the treating outcomes in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with iodine-125 seed brachytherapy: a 5-year follow-up study
Provisionally accepted
- First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, Chongqing Municipality, China
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Brachytherapy based on iodine-125 (I-125) is becoming one of the alternative treatment option for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) combined with radiotherapy reduces the complications. In the current study, we attempted to assess the outcomes of treating strategies using CHM, chemotherapy or I-125. 182 patients who underwent I-125 seed implantation alone or in combination with chemotherapy or CHM treatment were enrolled in the current study. The clinical information of the patients were collected, and analyzed after a five-year follow-up.The overall survival rates at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years were 81%, 47%, 28%, and 1620%, respectively, with a median survival time of 24.28 months. For patients receiving chemotherapy combined with I-125 seed brachytherapy, the survival rates were 89%, 53%, 3435%, and 2429%, respectively. In contrast, those treated with CHM combined with I-125 seed brachytherapy had survival rates of 90%, 63%, 4142%, and 1723%.Meanwhile, the survival rates for patients treated with 125 I seed brachytherapy alone were 69%, 32%, 1512%, and 911%. Additionally, patients receiving CHM combined with I-125 seed brachytherapy treatment also showed less complications such as cough and vomit. CHM treatment demonstrated comparable efficacy and less complications to chemotherapy in managing advanced NSCLC under the treatment of I-125.
Keywords: advanced non-small cell lung cancer, chemotherapy, Chinese herbal medicine, iodine-125 seed, survival analysis
Received: 18 Mar 2025; Accepted: 30 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhang, Luo, Zhou, Zhou and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qingchen Wu, First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, Chongqing Municipality, China
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