Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Clin Oncol. Oct 24, 2026; 17(10): 124301
Published online Oct 24, 2026. doi: 10.5306/wjco.124301
Published online Oct 24, 2026. doi: 10.5306/wjco.124301
Clinical efficacy of integrated Chinese-Western medicine therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer
Rui Li, Yu-Ying Xu, Bei-Bei Wu, Meng-Meng Wang, Liang Guan, Bo-Run Li, Yu-Fei Yang, Bo Pang, Department of Oncology, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100091, China
Yu-Wei Wang, Guang’anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China
Co-first authors: Rui Li and Yu-Ying Xu.
Co-corresponding authors: Yu-Fei Yang and Bo Pang.
Author contributions: Li R and Xu YY were responsible for writing, review and editing of the manuscript, they contributed equally to this article, they are the co-first authors of this manuscript; Li R, Xu YY, and Wu BB developed the methodology; Wang MM, Guan L, Li BR, and Wang YW performed the investigation; Yang YF and Pang B contributed to the conceptualization of the study, they contributed equally to this article, they are the co-corresponding authors of this manuscript; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: No AI tools were utilized during the drafting, data analysis, or figure production of this manuscript.
Supported by the Capital Health Research and Development Special Program, No. 2022-1-4171; and the Evidence-Based Medicine Special Project of Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. XYZX0201-19.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Xiyuan Hospital, approval No. 2022XLA118-2.
Clinical trial registration statement: The study was registered under ChiCTR2400081697.
Informed consent statement: This study consists of a retrospective component and a prospective component. Written informed consent was obtained for the prospective part, while informed consent was waived for the retrospective part.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement: Data are not publicly available due to patient privacy restrictions.
Corresponding author: Bo Pang, PhD, Professor, Department of Oncology, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 1 Xiyuan Caochang, Haidian District, Beijing 100091, China. drpangbo@gmail.com
Received: June 12, 2026
Revised: July 25, 2026
Accepted: October 8, 2026
Published online: October 24, 2026
Processing time: 133 Days and 16.9 Hours
Revised: July 25, 2026
Accepted: October 8, 2026
Published online: October 24, 2026
Processing time: 133 Days and 16.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: In this multicenter retrospective cohort of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, oral Chinese herbal medicine use for ≥ 3 months was associated with longer overall and cancer-specific survival after inverse probability weighting. The therapeutic principle was standardized, whereas prescriptions were individualized according to syndrome differentiation. Because exposure was defined by observed treatment duration, immortal time bias and residual confounding remain possible. These hypothesis-generating findings require prospective confirmation using landmark and time-varying exposure analyses.