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ANTI-CANCER THERAPY IN THE WESTERN MEDICAL SYSTEM

Concepts of western medical science

As mentioned in Chapter 3, oriental medical science (Chinese medicine) and western medical science are fundamentally different in their concept of carcinomatosis. The question of which is the better concept or which produces a better treatment will not be discussed here. Certainly what is important is that both traditions share the same objective. It is also important that some forms of eastern and western treatments are compatible – such as the combined use of Tian Xian Liquid with chemo- and radiotherapy. Here I would like to discuss briefly the basic theories of western medical science and its anti-cancer therapies so that the nature of Tian Xian Liquid can be better understood.

If oriental medicine emphasizes treatment of the entire individual as its approach to cancer therapy, the opposite can be said of western medicine, which treats cells as basic anatomical and physiological units. From the point of view of western medicine, the emphasis is to remove the cancerous cells that grow uncontrollably, invading and metastasizing to other organs. Depending on the conditions of the patient, irradiation and chemotherapy may be used as auxiliary treatment before or after the surgery to destroy residual tumor cells. Of course, the sequence in which surgical and auxiliary treatment is to be administered depends on the type, location, and extent of metastasis of the tumor. Whatever the order in which these modes of therapy are used, they will still present the formidable drawbacks of severe side effects.

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