In real life, of course, most practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine do not make use of the scientific studies. Indeed, most practitioners in my experience are largely unaware of how remarkable the scientific studies are; they simply offer what they have learned to be the most appropriate therapy for the patient's particular situation.
One interesting but, some specialists report, somewhat dated book on the traditional system of cancer treatment with traditional Chinese herbs is Treating Cancer with Chinese Herbs, by Hong-Yen Hsu. Hsu headed the Taiwan Pharmaceutical Association for 34 years and served as the chief of the Food and Drug Control Bureau of the National Health Administration in Taiwan, as well as chairing the department of botany at a Taiwan university before founding the Oriental Healing Arts Institute in Los Angeles. In classic Chinese medicine, Hsu says, there is no specific concept of cancer. Some tumors are simply considered more dangerous than others:
Those that can be cured are probably Western medicine's equivalent of a benign tumor. The Chinese have perfected over the years many, many formulas that reduce or arrest swelling and alleviate pain. They have also learned much about nutrition and are extremely aware of the benefits to be derived from nutritive supplementary tonics. These are the medicines that are discussed in this book. The formulas and herbs don't propose to cure cancer as such, but many of them do alleviate pain and prolong life by supplementing and strengthening the body's life force and by arresting the progression of tumors.
The various herbal remedies for different types of cancer are said to work by circulating the blood and dissipating "stagnation," detoxifying and "dissipating hard lumps," "breaking accumulations," "treating coagulation," "treating weak vitality," "dispersing heat," and so forth. Beyond the many specific remedies for different types of cancers and different individual conformations related to cancer, Hsu recommends two general anticancer remedies: the "C-C Combination" and the Japanese formula "W.T.T.C." He cites studies by Nakayama Koumei of Chiba University in Japan showing that W.T.T.C. enhanced postsurgical survival in patients with esophageal and stomach cancer by about 10% and enhanced relapse-free survival by larger amounts, although "the data base is not sufficiently scientific."
A sense of the Chinese view on specific cancers can be sampled by reviewing the chapter on breast cancer. After reviewing the Western view of breast cancer, Hsu describes Chinese thinking:
The general Chinese medical view is that women's breast cancer is caused by the accumulation of melancholic anger, depression, obstruction of spleen vitality, reversal of liver vitality, deficiency of blood and vitality, stagnation of blood in the muscles, accumulation of sputum over several years, and internal bursting. Thus breast cancer is linked to the seven passions and the exhaustion of blood in the liver meridian, the melancholic accumulation of liver vitality, and obstruction of ch'i [Qi, vital energy]. ....
Chinese medical treatment during the initial stage is aimed at detoxifying, relieving melancholy, softening the hardness, supplementing the blood, and dissipating stagnant blood.
