中药地龙胶囊对食管癌和肺癌的辐射增效作用

Radioenhancement effect of radiotherapy combined with earthworm capsule in the treatment of esophagus and lung carcinoma

Earthworm capsule is a preparation extracted from earthworm body in our laboratory. From 1986 to 1989, 486 patients with carcinoma of esophagus or lung were randomly divided into 2 groups, receiving radiotherapy alone (control group) or radiotherapy combined with earthworm capsules (treatment group) respectively. All patients were diagnosed pathologically or cytologically. In a two month treatment course, earthworm capsules were given orally twice a day. 2 -3 capsules each time, each capsule containning 60 mg extracted preparation. Compared with the control group, the CR rate and CR+PR rate in patients with carcinoma of esophagus treated with radiotherapy in combination with earthworm capsule increased 9.7% (P<0.01 ) and 9.6% (P<0.05), while in patients with carcinoma of lung, they increased 10.6% (P<0.05)and 13.5% (P<0.05 ) respectively. The earthworm capsule caused in the irritation alimentary tract, the patients displaying slight nausea and vomiting (16.7% in combination treatment group vs 10.0% in the control group). However, they could be alleviated when the capsule was taken after meal or with honey concomitantly. No deleterious effects on the heart, liver, kidney, skin, hematopoietic or nervous system were seen.