Traditional Chinese medicine integrated with chemotherapy for stage Ⅳ non-surgical gastric cancer: a retrospective clinical analysis

OBJECTIVE： Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） is regarded as an important treatment for gastric cancer patients, especially for those in advanced stage. To evaluate the effects of TCM treatment on gastric cancer patients, the authors performed a retrospective study to report the result of the integrated treatment of TCM with chemotherapy for stage IV non-surgical gastric cancer. METHODS： In this study, 182 patients with stage IV and non-surgical gastric cancer were retrospectively analyzed to evaluate the effects of TCM integrated with chemotherapy. Among the 182 cases, 88 cases received integrated therapy consisting of TCM and chemotherapy, while 94 cases received chemotherapy alone. The overall survival and Karnofsky performance status （KPS） score were measured as the main outcome. RESULTS： The median overall survival of the integrated therapy group and chemotherapy group were 16.9 and 10.5 months, respectively. The 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates of integrated therapy group vs. chemotherapy group were 70% vs. 32%, 18% vs. 4%, and 11% vs. 0%, respectively. There was a significant difference between the two groups （x2 = 42.244, P 〈 0.001 ）. After six-month treatment, KPS scores of the integrated therapy group and the chemotherapy group were 75.00 ± 14.78 and 60.64 ± 21.39, respectively （P 〈 0.001）. The Cox regression analysis showed that TCM treatment is a protective factor for patients＇ overall survival. CONCLUSION： This study demonstrated that TCM integrated with chemotherapy may prolong overal survival and improve survival rate and life quality of patients with stage IV non-surgical gastric cancer

The meaning of complementary, alternative and traditional medicine among the Indonesian psychology community: a pilot study

OBJECTIVE： Complementary, alternative and traditional medicine （CATM） is a new field, as well as a promising area of study and practice in psychology. It is important to research the cultural context and meaning of CATM, including its definitions and examples, among different communities of psychology because CATM＇s use is dependent on how it is understood by the members. The aim of this pilot study is to provide an interpretation of the Indonesian psychology community＇s understanding of CATM through a qualitative approach. METHODS： Online interviews with open-ended questions and purposive sampling were used. Participants were dominantly psychologists or lecturers in clinical psychology area. Ten males and 12 females with an average age of 28.0 ＋ 2.5 years voluntarily participated in this study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and reviewed and analysed by the two authors to ensure accuracy of interpretation. RESULTS： It was found that there was no single meaning of CATM among the Indonesian community of psychology. Participants were not familiar enough with the terms and tended to use them with overlap. It can be suggested that ＂complementary medicine＂ and ＂alternative medicine＂ or ＂complementary- alternative medicine＂ combined provides more suitable terminology for use among Indonesian psychology community when communicating with other health care professionals. CONCLUSION： The understanding of the terms and examples of CATM were diverse and were often used interchangeably in the projects/interviews. It was also found that Indonesian psychologists required more education regarding CATM. In addition, future studies with more participants from various aspects of the psychology community should be conducted to capture a more representative sample.