Preventing effect of "liuwei dihuang decoction" on esophageal carcinoma

Liuwei Dihuang Decoction is a representative classic prescription for nourishing Yin in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Experimental and clinical studies showed that the recipe could 1. inhibit carcinogenesis of anterior stomach by N-nitrososarcosine ethyl ester in mice; 2. inhibit the formation of lung tumors induced by Urethan in mice; 3. decrease spontaneous tumorigenesis in LACA strain; 4. inhibit the mutagenic activity of Endoxan in micronuclear test. Patients with epithelial dysplasia of esophagus, a preneoplastic lesion, were treated by using this recipe. The canceration rate within 1 year was 2.2% in the treated and 12.4% in an untreated group. Within 5 years these rates were 9% and 26% respectively (p less than 0.025).