The next step in the cure of cancer?

(CNN) – Karen Kwai-Ching Li, known as KC, lives in fear of her osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, for almost 28 years.

She was diagnosed in 1991, at the age of 10, but failed after two months of treatment, her tumors spread, resulting in amputation of the leg. After the operation and six cycles of chemotherapy, she went into remission.

Using her prosthetic leg to move, she continues to see Dr. Godfrey Chan, a pediatric oncologist at the Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong, to monitor her recovery and ensure that the cancer will not reappear.

"My condition has been fairly stable," she said.

To cope with his treatment and the many side effects of chemotherapy, KC turned to a seemingly contrasting practice: traditional Chinese medicine.

Whenever she was undergoing chemotherapy, her body seemed weakened, she said. Friends and family have recommended plant root ginseng, whose benefits are supposed to include energy, recent studies supporting this claim.

When her family prepared ginseng for her to drink, she felt "more energetic and regained a little more strength," she explained, which led her to use it. after each chemotherapy session.

But she took it with Chan's blessing – because Chan is not your typical oncologist. Although Chan practices modern Western medicine, his father was a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. After a childhood surrounded by herbs and remedies, he brings the two together to explore the clinical value of herbal medicine.

The story of his family gives him an edge, helping him reduce the medical gap for the benefit of patients like KC, especially in the cultural melting pot that is Hong Kong.

Benefits and complications

"It's like a treasure trove," Chan said. "We already have a lot of historical information that proves that part of this formula works [and] some of this formula does not work. "

By exploring the active ingredients of thousands of items used in Chinese medicine, Dr. Chan thinks he could find combinations of treatments to help patients heal faster.

Powdered herbs fill his laboratory at the University of Hong Kong, where his team carefully measures and tests the properties of the ingredients in vials and their reaction to chemicals and human cells.

"We are looking at traditional Chinese medicine in a more comprehensive way," he said.

But such a merger requires due diligence to ensure that herbs complement, rather than confuse or hinder, any modern treatment – especially with something as sensitive as cancer treatment.

"We have to be very careful because, besides the benefits, we can also face complications," Chan said.

An example, he explained, is the lingzhi, a Chinese mushroom blown away by many of his cancer patients, with guidance and supervision. They believe that it can boost immune function. However, for patients with immune system cancers, such as leukemia, the use of such a plant could promote cancer proliferation. Here, "it's probably not wise," he said.

For KC, the result of two therapies was greater than one, she said, believing that "the integration of two therapies would be a future trend in Hong Kong" and more globally.

Investment in the future

Chan is also trying to provide evidence of the combination of Eastern and Western medicine, because people are already doing it without knowing the real benefits – or possible damage.

In the 1990s, he said, a study he conducted found that almost half of his patients were receiving medical treatment in combination with cancer treatment. This fueled his desire to be able to inform them.

"Some of them have actually discussed [using both] with me, "he said. But most of them, they do not do it. They did not bother to tell me. "

Since then, the government has provided funds and resources to further research on Chinese herbal medicines, he explained, by building hospitals and clinics for the University Medical School. Hong Kong and ensuring superior quality control.

"I think there will be more chances of integration in the future," Chan said.

Modern targeted treatment versus holistic antecedents

What is now called Chinese medicine has been practiced for 3,000 years or more, said Lao Li Xing, director of the School of Chinese Medicine at the University of Hong Kong.

Lao is training the next generation of practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine in Hong Kong and believes that this ancestral practice can fill the gaps and overcome some of the limitations of Western medicine, such as cancer and the side effects of treatment.

Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are crucial but often have problematic side effects, he told CNN from his clinic, where a large wall has hundreds of drawers, each containing a single plant or ingredient.

"Insomnia, nausea, vomiting, sometimes they have dry mouth because of radiotherapy," he said. "Chinese medicine can really play a bigger role in improving its quality of life."

The traditional practice itself involves four stages of diagnosis: observation, language analysis, listening to a patient's thoughts and analyzing one's pulse, Lao said.

"Personal experience is very important, we take the pulse, look at the language and make a decision individually," he said, using the analogy of a suit to describe the situation. experience as going to the tailor rather than in a shop.

But "Western medicine and Chinese medicine together" will get a patient again healthy, he said.

Qihe Xu, co-director of the King's Center for Integrative Chinese Medicine in the UK, shares this view.

"The value of Chinese medicine lies in its various means of diagnosis and intervention, focusing on improving health, preventing disease, defending health capabilities. and sickness, as well as the functional well-being of a person, "he wrote in an email.

"Too often, Chinese medicine offers alternative solutions where conventional medicine fails." Integrating the wisdom and approaches of traditional Chinese medicine and conventional medicine thus represents a shortcut to meeting many medical needs. unsatisfied, "he said.

Xu gave the example of a work of Professor Tommy Yung-Chi Cheng at Yale University, whose 2012 study revealed that four herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine for more 1,800 years to treat gastrointestinal problems were effective in "alleviating the side effects, but also the effectiveness of chemotherapy," he said.

"Further research in this area promises to transform the medicine of tomorrow."

& # 39; Conditioning the body & # 39;

Cheung Yiu-kai, 66, was recently treated for liver cancer by a combination of surgery and electrotherapy – in which electrical currents are applied to tumors – at Queen Mary Hospital to remove a series of tumors.

After his western treatment, he asked the help of the Lao team at the School of Chinese Medicine to restore his general health.

Cheung explained that a Western doctor was investigating what was going on in his body, but a Chinese medicine practitioner conditioned the body as a whole, unable to see which particular problem posed – highlighting the need for a combination and not of Chinese remedies.

Now, "my body feels good," he said. "The conditioning of the body is very good."

While the partnership between the old and the new is in its infancy, Chan and Lao believe that this partnership goes well with medicine and health care.

In 2019, the World Health Organization added traditional Chinese medicine to its International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, a global compendium on health identifying trends and statistics in health, as well as as the international standard for reporting diseases and health problems.

The previous year, the Chinese government had asked local governments to establish traditional Chinese medicine facilities in all medical centers, increasing funding for its development and expanding the field of education.

A series of studies have proven the potential benefits of acupuncture in the treatment of migraines, allergies and pain.

Chan believes his research confirms this trend, thanks to its prime location in Hong Kong, "a city that can merge Western and Eastern culture," he said. "It's our main strength in merging information not only in culture but also in applied science."

Western doctors and Chinese medicine practitioners in Hong Kong can together demonstrate that it is the best system for patients, Lao believes, thus allowing for more effective care with less pain. ;Side effects.

"This may be the model for the whole world."

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