chemotherapy. A variety of Chinese medicinal herbs has been used for
managing these side effects. A review by Zhang et al. has provided limited
evidence concerning the effectiveness of Chinese herbs in alleviating
chemotherapy-induced short-term side effects.^162
Wei et al. assessed the efficacy and possible adverse effects of the addition
of two Chinese medicinal herbs to treatment with radiotherapy or
chemotherapy for oesophageal cancer.^163 Only two studies of limited quality
were included in their review and the results were inconclusive. CHM has
been shown to have a significant impact on control of nausea experienced by
patients with early stage breast or colon cancer who required postoperative
adjuvant chemotherapy.^164
Safety
Competence of practitioners
The use of CHM is increasing in the UK and fewer patients are now Chinese.
This has led to problems, because most of those who seek treatment are unable
to distinguish between adequately and inadequately trained practitioners.
Practitioners fall into three broad categories:
- Those who have had a full training in the discipline This may be
practitioners who have trained in China, normally for 5 years. or have
graduated from a UK college or university, once again after a 4- or
5-year training to BSc or MSc level. - Those who have received limited training in the UK or China.
- Those who have no training.
There are no data on exactly how many practitioners now offer Chinese
herbal treatment in the UK, and only some of them will belong to a profes-
sional body. The main body is the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine
(RCHM), which maintains minimum standards of training and practice.
Another organisation, the Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine
(ATCM), also exists to represent mainly ethnic Chinese practitioners of both
acupuncture and CHM. The RCHM and ATCM work in close collabora-
tion in many areas and hold regular joint seminars and continuous profes-
sional development days in order to promote increased integration between
the two groups.
Fully trained practitioners have training similar to that given to orthodox
doctors in the west. They receive some training in western medicine and can
distinguishthose conditions that would be best treated by western medicine.
162 | Traditional medicine