Effects of Sijunzi Decoction on Immunologic Function and Quality of Life in Patients with Rectal Carcinoma After Surgery

OBJECTIVE To explore the effects of Sijunzi Decoction on immunologic function and quality of life in patients with rectal carcinoma after surgery. METHODS 130 cases with rectal carcinoma having undergone surgery were randomly divided into study group(n=65) and control group(n=65). Patients in the control group were treated with FOLFOX7 chemotherapy regimen， while those in the study group were further given Sijunzi Decoction， in addition to the FOLFOX7 chemotherapy regimen， with the treatment lasting for 4 courses. Then changes of KPS scores， Chinese medical syndrome scores and T-lymphocyte subsets were evaluated in both groups. RESULTS After treatment， KPS scores in the study group were increased evidently but decreased notably in the control group， and there were statistical significances between two groups in changes of quality of life(P<0.05). Compared to the study group， the decreased levels of CD3+，CD4+， CD8+ and CD4+/CD8+ proportion in the control group after treatment were more obvious(P<0.05~0.01). When compared to the control group， the symptom scores like anorexia， spiritlessness， abdominal distension， loose stool as well as the total scores went down more significantly in the study group(P<0.05~0.01). Pearson correlation analysis showed that KPS scores were positively related to CD4+/CD8+ proportion(r=0.486， P<0.05)， while TCM syndrome scores were negatively related to CD4+/CD8+ proportion(r=-0.375， P<0.05). CONCULSION The adjuvant chemotherapy of Sijunzi Decoction plus FOLFOX7 regimen is effective in treating postoperative rectal cancer by significantly improving the immunologic function， quality of life as well as the clinical symptoms.