(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- When it comes to breast cancer, the cure can make you sick. Chemotherapy often comes with debilitating side effects. Now research is underway to determine if herbal medicine can help eliminate them.

Chinese herbs. Some swear by them, while others scoff. Now, doctors at University of California, San Francisco are trying to find out, once and for all, if they work.

Oncologist Debu Tripathy, M.D., is studying 60 women with early stage breast cancer to see if herbal therapy can help reduce the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy. He says, "All our patients ask us about this and we really don't have good information that we can give them.

We have a lot of effective drugs for things like nausea and fatigue, but they don't work for everybody. And most patients that go through chemotherapy do, at some point, experience side effects that are not controlled by standard medications," says Dr. Tripathy.

Half of the study participants get a mixture of 21 Chinese herbs, while the other half get a placebo.

Breast cancer patient Terry Markiewicz agreed to take part in the study. When she finished all her chemotherapy sessions, she learned she had been given the herbs and not the placebo. She wasn't surprised.

"There was a woman who had chemotherapy at the same time I did, who was not on the study. By the time we got to our cars together afterwards, she was vomiting and I went shopping," says Markiewicz.

Doctors warn they won't be sure the herb therapy really works until the rest of the patients finish their chemotherapy, but you can already count Markiewicz among the believers.

Dr. Tripathy says the next step of the study would be to make sure the herbs are not protecting the tumor at the same time they're protecting the rest of the body from the effects of chemotherapy.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Marina Kenzer, Study Coordinator University of California, San Francisco Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center 1600 Divisidero St., 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94115-1710 (415) 885-7328

Chinese Breast Cancer Therapy Research Summary Television News Service/Medical Breakthroughs ㊣vanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. August 2001

CURING CANCER WITH SIDE EFFECTS: The main purpose of chemotherapy is to kill cancer cells. It is usually used to treat patients with cancer that has spread from the place in the body where it started. Chemotherapy destroys cancer cells anywhere in the body. It even kills cells that have broken off from the main tumor and traveled through the blood or lymph systems to other parts of the body. Some chemotherapy drugs have more side effects than others. Nausea and vomiting are common and may lead to loss of appetite. Some chemotherapy drugs cause hair loss, but it is almost always temporary. Low blood cell counts caused by the effect chemotherapy has on the bone marrow can lead to anemia, infections, and easy bleeding and bruising. Chemotherapy can cause irritation and dryness in the mouth and throat. Painful sores may form that can bleed and become infected.

MAKING CHEMOTHERAPY BEARABLE: Although traditional drugs can help alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy, such medications have their shortcomings. They are frequently insufficient to ward off the most severe bouts of nausea and fatigue, and their efficacy varies from patient to patient. Doctors and patients alike have long wondered whether Eastern medicine, specifically Chinese herbal therapy, might help alleviate chemotherapy's side effects. Until now, all evidence has been strictly anecdotal.

LOOKING TO THE EAST: Debu Tripathy, M.D. is an oncologist at University of California San Francisco's Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center. He is currently performing a study designed to determine whether Chinese herbs are effective in mitigating chemotherapy's side effects in breast cancer patients. During the study, 60 women with early stage breast cancer are analyzed through their chemotherapy regimes. Half of the patients receive a predetermined mixture of 21 Chinese herbs. The other half receives a placebo.

DOWN THE ROAD: The Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center is still accepting new patients for the study, which has been underway for the past two years. Dr. Tripathy expects it will take another year and a half before all the results are in. Even then, researchers say they will be very careful before jumping to any conclusions regarding herbal therapy. Even if it proves effective, Dr. Tripathy says researchers will need to confirm the herbs do not actually protect cancer cells along with the rest of the body.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Marina Kenzer, Study Coordinator University of California, San Francisco Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center 1600 Divisidero St., 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94115-1710 (415) 885-7328

From Healthy.net