Use of Chinese herbs for dry mouth in head and neck cancer patients having radiotherapy

<p>Wan Najbah Nik Nabil, Lim Ren Jye and Chan Si Yan</p>

Use of Chinese herbs for dry mouth in head and neck cancer patients having radiotherapy

Wan Najbah Nik Nabil, Lim Ren Jye and Chan Si Yan

National Cancer Institute, Malaysia

: J Regen Med

Abstract

More than 80% of head and neck cancer patients endure dry mouth, which reduced their quality of life. This systematic review assessed the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbs use for radiotherapy-induced dry mouth. Systematic search was performed on 6 databases (English and Chinese) and included 15 studies for metaanalysis. The quality of evidence of the included studies was very low to moderate quality; nearly all studies had high risk of performance bias. Almost all studies started the herbal treatment and radiotherapy concurrently and 2 studies initiated the herbal treatment 3 days prior starting radiotherapy. The commonly used herbs were: Mai Men Dong (Tuber Ophiopogonis Japonici), Dang Shen (Radix Codonopsitis Pilosulae), Sheng Di Huang (Radix Rehmaniae) and Xuan Shen (Radix Scrophulariae Ningpoensis). Compared to control group (without herbal treatment), herbs reduced the dry mouth during and post-radiotherapy. Patients who were taking herbal treatment also had less severe oral mucositis and loss of appetite (as sequela of radiotherapy). There is evidence that use of Chinese herbs during or post-radiotherapy may ease dry mouth and other sequel of radiotherapy. (176 words)

Biography

Wan Najbah Nik Nabil earned her Bachelor Degree of Pharmacy from Malaysia National University (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), Malaysia. Then, she pursued Master of Applied Science (Chinese Medicine) from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Since 2008, she joined Traditional & Complementary Medicine (T&CM) Unit, Putrajaya Hospital, Malaysia to provide herbal treatment to cancer patients (as adjunct to conventional cancer treatment). Currently she is with T&CM Unit, National Cancer Institute (NCI), Malaysia. Her research focus is on herbal and acupuncture treatment for cancer patients.

E-mail: pfnajbah@nci.gov.my