Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore some new therapies to control clinical symptoms of patients with terminal cancer by using external applications. Methods: We investigated some literatures on the external applications for cancer patients and made diagrams. Results: The results are summarized as follows. External applications are one of the traditional oriental medical methods and these are effective for pain control, ascites & pleural effusion and palpitable mass. It has some characteristics which are simple, safe and popular, but we must pay attention carefully to allergic reaction and toxicity in using external applications. The therapeutic portion of external applications are decided by discipline of syndrome and disease differentiation, and the prescriptions are composed of antitumor herb medicines. Conclusions: From the above results, it is expected that external applications are useful to improve clinical symptoms and quality of life(QOL) for patients with terminal cancer who cannot intake foods or medicines.
