# Traditional Chinese herbal medicine alongside treatment

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/traditional-chinese-herbal-medicine/  
OnCo record `traditional-chinese-herbal-medicine` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Traditional Chinese herbal medicine prescribes individualised multi-herb decoctions, taken by most cancer patients in China to reduce chemotherapy side effects. Cochrane reviews found the hundreds of trials small, unblinded and poorly reported, so whether they help is unknown, and some herbs damage the liver or interact with tyrosine kinase inhibitors through CYP3A4.

## Summary

Traditional Chinese medicine prescribes multi-herb decoctions individualised to the patient, which makes standard trials difficult. Cochrane reviews of Chinese herbal medicine for chemotherapy side effects in colorectal cancer and for other cancers found many small trials with methodological weaknesses, inconsistent formulas and a strong tendency to positive results only in the Chinese-language literature; they conclude that the evidence is insufficient. Individual constituents have been developed into drugs (arsenic trioxide for promyelocytic leukaemia, homoharringtonine, camptothecin analogues), showing the pharmacology is real, but that is different from decoctions improving outcomes. Safety concerns include hepatotoxicity, contamination with heavy metals or undeclared pharmaceuticals, aristolochic acid nephrotoxicity and carcinogenicity, and CYP3A4 interactions with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Patients should tell their oncology team what they take.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: phase-2
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: complementary; supportive-care; evidence:insufficient
- Principle: Multi-component formulas are claimed to restore balance and reduce toxicity; specific constituents have measurable pharmacological actions, but formula-level efficacy is untested to modern standards.
- Strengths: Source of several approved drugs; Large patient demand, useful to discuss openly
- Limitations: Trials small, unblinded, poorly reported; Hepatotoxicity and contamination; Interactions with oral anticancer drugs

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine
- Cochrane: Chinese medical herbs for chemotherapy side effects in colorectal cancer patients (2005): https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD004540.pub2
- MSK About Herbs: About Herbs database home: https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/search

## Connected records

- fronts: [Supportive Care & Survivorship](https://onco.cc/fronts/supportive-care/)
- technologies: [Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms](https://onco.cc/technologies/dietary-supplements-treatment-interactions/), [Evidence-based integrative oncology](https://onco.cc/technologies/integrative-oncology/)
- drugs: [Arsenic trioxide](https://onco.cc/drugs/arsenic-trioxide/)
- bottlenecks: [Misinformation and unproven therapies](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-misinformation/), [Preclinical results do not reproduce](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-reproducibility/)
- key papers: [Chinese medical herbs for chemotherapy side effects in colorectal cancer patients](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-taixiang-cochrane-database-syst-rev/)

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