4. Young People in Society

4. Young People in Society

My relative has stomach cancer and has been continuously taking traditional Chinese medicine prescribed at your clinic for over 40 days, without undergoing surgery. There are currently two questions I hope Mr. Pei can answer: ① Is it acceptable to rely solely on your traditional Chinese medicine without surgery? ② The patient is now extremely weak—her legs lose strength as soon as she walks, and her complexion is very pale. How can we strengthen her physically? ③ Can she drink meat broth while taking traditional Chinese medicine?

A: Regarding this issue, the correct answer is that surgery should be the first choice, combined with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and traditional Chinese medicine. This is the general principle. Of course, some patients firmly refuse surgery and insist on continuing traditional Chinese medicine, so we can only accommodate their wishes. This involves a medical ethics issue: we cannot persuade patients to abandon surgery in favor of traditional Chinese medicine, nor can we convince them that traditional Chinese medicine is more effective than surgery, let alone encourage them to give up surgery altogether and rely solely on traditional Chinese medicine. Recently, some American scholars, based on evidence-based medicine statistics, have suggested that for certain patients, conservative treatment without surgery yields outcomes statistically indistinguishable from those achieved through surgery. However, this is merely one opinion and should be taken as a reference only. Patients with stomach cancer should avoid drinking meat broth because their digestive function is impaired; in traditional Chinese medicine, this is referred to as "deficiency cannot tolerate tonification."

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