Objective: To observe the supplementary effect of moxibustion and Guben Yiliu III (GBYL), a Chinese herbal compound preparation, in combination with chemotherapy.
Methods: Eighty-one patients of mid-late stage malignant tumor were randomly divided into 3 groups: 16 in Group A treated with chemotherapy and placebo; 35 in Group B treated with chemotherapy and GBYL and 30 in Group C treated with chemotherapy and GBYL plus moxibustion. The short-term effect of treatment, changes of blood picture, cell mediated immune function and blood coagulation in patients were observed.
Results: After chemotherapy, the lymphocyte count was significantly lowered in Group A and B (P < 0.01), but not in Group C (P > 0.05); lymphocyte subset T3 raised significantly in Group B; the average level of T-lymphocyte subsets was reduced in Group A while it increased in the other two groups; and a bi-directional regulation on plasma fibrinogen concentration was shown in Group C (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Moxibustion prevented dropping of lymphocyte count caused by chemotherapy. Combination of GBYL and moxibustion could prevent the lowering of T-lymphocyte subsets caused by chemotherapy, and moxibustion could regulate bi-directionally the patients' abnormality in part of blood coagulation mechanism.