Breast Lumps: Clinical Research on TCM

In the following two studies, Chinese herbal treatment was used as an alternative, or as an adjunct, to hormone therapy, which many patients in the United States wish to avoid.

• Breast lumps, which are a common concern among American women, were treated by two TCM doctors (Qiu Xiaogung and Pu Qing), who used an herbal decoction (consisting of pangolin scales, fritillaria, oyster shell, sparganium, zedoaria, melia, cyperus, corydalis, tang kuei, and carthamus). Two control groups received either the amino acid asparagine or the hormone methyltestosterone. In the herb group, 87.7 percent reported a reduction of lumps and a decrease in breast pain, compared with 72.7 percent in the asparagine group and 69.4 percent in the methyltestosterone group. Herbal treatment was concluded to be superior to the other two therapies. Both the herbal treatment and the amino acid treatment were found to be superior to the hormone therapy, which is of significance to women who wish to avoid hormone treatment.

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From THE BEST ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: WHAT WORKS? WHAT DOES NOT? by Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier.
Copyright © 2000 by Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier, Inc.
Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, New York.

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Unless otherwise indicated, Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier. All Rights Reserved.
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