🌿 Folk Prescriptions

In the 20th century, against major threats to human health such as infectious diseases, medicine relied on chemical drugs and antibiotics targeting microorganisms. Success in controlling infectious diseases led naturally to extending this approach to cancer treatment, focusing on eliminating localized tumors. As a result, the three major effective cancer treatments—surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy—have advanced significantly, substantially improving cancer treatment outcomes.
By the latter decades of the 20th century, concerns arose regarding treatments that might achieve partial remission or even cure but at the cost of reduced quality of life and possibly minimal extension of lifespan. This prompted exploration of patient-centered approaches, deepening understanding and gradually shifting cancer treatment paradigms. Various moderate surgical techniques and minimally invasive procedures emerged, replacing traditional radical surgeries. The advent of targeted therapies revolutionized chemotherapy. Three-dimensional stereotactic radiotherapy elevated cancer radiotherapy to a new level. Yet, despite these advances, cancer remains a severe threat to life, with both incidence and mortality rates continuing to rise.
Why is this so? After careful reflection on past experiences, it became evident that a strategic error was made in the fight against cancer. Unlike infectious diseases caused by microbes, cancer is a multi-gene altered disease. Thus, it cannot be managed solely through treatment-oriented medical approaches. Cancer is feared primarily because it is widespread and difficult to treat. Therefore, the strategy should reverse course: transform “widespread” into “rare,” and “difficult to treat” into “easy to manage.” Achieving this goal requires one effective solution: prevention. Through various preventive measures, prevent disease onset or detect early lesions before invasion or metastasis, enabling timely intervention—this constitutes primary and secondary prevention. Extending this concept, preventing recurrence or metastasis after curative treatment also falls under prevention, highlighting its growing importance.
Looking back at the past half-century, the strategic position of traditional medicine in cancer prevention and treatment must adapt to the broader shift in cancer control strategies. Traditionally, TCM was confined to drug therapy, often incorrectly compared to chemotherapy, demanding complete or partial remission rates. This compares TCM’s weaknesses with Western medicine’s strengths, leading to the perception that TCM primarily serves as adjunctive therapy in integrative medicine—reducing side effects of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy such as leukopenia, vomiting, diarrhea, and liver damage—or serving as a last resort when patients reach late stages and cannot tolerate conventional treatments. In short, TCM has long been relegated to a supportive role in cancer treatment.
However, current cancer management has shifted toward prevention-first and patient-centered models. Insightful practitioners recognize that high “efficacy rates” don’t necessarily reflect clinical benefits. For example, long-term survival with tumors, though having low response rates, may still offer better quality of life—a blessing for patients. Thus, tumor progression time and progression-free survival better reflect patient interests. Since herbal medicines are plant-derived and possess cellular stability, they align well with this view. From this standpoint, the strategic role of traditional medicine in cancer prevention and treatment will inevitably change. While treating visible tumors is not TCM’s forte, preventing tumor formation before it takes shape, preventing recurrence after cure, or managing coexistence with cancer—these are precisely where TCM shines, potentially becoming the central player. TCM’s core philosophy centers on the individual, emphasizing holistic balance and syndrome differentiation. Among the public, there is a long-standing belief: “Seek Western medicine for acute illness, seek TCM for chronic illness.” Cancer develops through a long process—from carcinogen exposure, initiation, promotion, DNA damage and repair, to precancerous lesions. Progress from precancerous cells to in situ carcinoma, then to invasive/metastatic cancer, typically takes about 20 years. This extended window offers ample opportunity for intervention—halting progression or reversing lesions before tumors fully form. This could become TCM’s pivotal strategic role in cancer prevention. Regrettably, this potential has been underappreciated, leaving few convincing data or experiences. Second, TCM should focus on preventing recurrence or metastasis after successful surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy-induced remission, consolidating treatment gains. In summary, traditional medicine has a vital role in lowering cancer incidence and mortality—not merely reducing complications of radiotherapy/chemotherapy or treating incurable late-stage cancers.