Herbal medicine reduces chemotherapy toxicity

Liver Toxicity and Herbal Medicine

In the last few months there have been three letters in The Lancet, follow-up articles in most of the national newspapers including The Times and The Sunday Times, and discussions on the Jimmy Young Show on the toxicity of herbal medicines and a potential link with liver fatality. Subsequently, rumours have been spreading as to inherent dangers in herbal prescriptions and possible restrictions ...

Toxicity profile of traditional herbal medicine

Medicines obtained from natural sources have become the basis for pharmaceutical drugs. Traditional herbal medicines are naturally occurring plant derived substances; these have been used for treatment and cure of various diseases and as a nutraceuticals. Toxicological research and testing help to live safely and predict benefit from synthetic and natural substance while avoiding harm. The toxi...

Chinese Herbal Medicines for Toxicity Reduction in Cancer Chemotherapy

Cancer is a leading killer of Australians. Chemotherapy is a major modality for the treatment of cancer, but it often fails due to dose-limiting toxicities and tumour resistance. Cytotoxic therapeutic agents kill not only cancer cells but normal cells, inducing host organ injuries and causing severe blood and gastrointestinal toxicities. For example, administration of irinotecan, 5-fluouracil, ...

Traditional herbal medicine, Rikkunshito, for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

Chinese Herbal Medicine and Fluorouracil-Based Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer

Background Chinese herbal medicines reportedly increase efficacy and minimize toxicity of chemotherapy; however, little attention has been paid to how poor study quality can bias outcomes. Methods We systematically searched MEDLINE, TCMLARS, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library for randomized controlled trials of Chinese herbal medicines combined with fluorouracil-based chemotherapy compared with the s...