Herbal Foot Bath improving Quality of Life for cancer patient

Objective: To evaluate the effects of herbal foot bath for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), to improve quality of life for cancer patients. Methods: With a randomized controlled trial, 48 advanced cancer patients were randomly assigned to three groups: the experimental group (using promoting blood circulation herbal for 18 patients), the control group 1 (using Astragaloside herbal for 18 cases), and the control group 2 (using placebo herbal for 12 patients). Patients in the experimental group accepted the promoting blood circulation herbal. Patients in the control group 1 accepted the astragaloside herbal, and the patients in the control group 2 accepted the placebo herbal respectively. A course of treatment was 14 days, with 20 min each day, 14 consecutive days for one cycle.The Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy 20(CIPN20)、European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-quality of life-C30(EORTC-QLQ-C30)、and Karnofsky performance score (KPS) were measured in the three groups for every 7 days, 2 times in total. Results: There was a significant difference for emotional state and insomnia in the experimental group when comparing with the other two groups in 7and 14 days respectively （ P<0.05）, the curative effect in the experiment group was better than one in the positive group, the effect in the placebo group was better than one in the positive group, no difference in the experiment group and the placebo group. Similarly, there was a significant difference for nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath when comparing with the other two groups in 7 and 14 days respectively（ P<0.05），the curative effect in the experiment group was better than one in the placebo group, the same result in the positive group was better than one in the placebo group, no difference in the experiment group and the placebo group. Conclusion: No matter what using Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) or warm water foot bath alone, can improve the quality of life in patients with cancer, especially in easing emotional function, improving insomnia, however, TCM foot bath didn’t highlight the curative effect of relieving chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy for cancer in a short time