Mechanisms and Clinical Practice of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine Treatment for Brain Gliomas

Abstract

Glioma is the most common malignant tumor in the central nervous system, which is difficult to treat and prone to recurrence. In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has shown unique advantages in reducing the toxicity of radiotherapy and chemotherapy and improving the quality of life of patients. However, the specific mechanism and systematic integration of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine (TCM and WM) treatment still need to be further explored. This article systematically reviews the progress of basic and clinical research on the treatment of glioma with TCM. The results show that some active components of TCM can inhibit the progression of glioma through mechanisms such as inducing tumor cell apoptosis and inhibiting DNA repair. Clinical observations indicate that the combination of TCM and WM can effectively alleviate bone marrow suppression caused by temozolomide chemotherapy, improve patients‘ cognitive function, and to some extent, prolong survival. This study provides theoretical support and practical basis for the integrated TCM and WM treatment of glioma. In the future, large-scale clinical research should be further carried out, the mechanism of action of TCM should be deeply explored, and the standardized and individualized application of integrated TCM and WM treatment should be promoted.