With a total of 15,000 pancreatic cancer patients, Liu Luming regards the arrival of every patient as a "big test", and he hopes to use his life's learning to answer a full score, so that patients can go back happily.
For more than 20 years, Liu Luming has been committed to anti-tumor clinical and research work, especially in the treatment of digestive tract tumors such as liver, gallbladder and pancreatic cancer. In Liu Luming's view, throughout his life, he will dedicate himself to his patients: "I want to strive for the first place in improving the survival rate of patients, and always be the second in honor." ”
On April 19, a reporter from the People's Daily health client had a conversation with Professor Liu Luming, consultant of the Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine of Fudan University and director of the Institute of Oncology.
In April 2020, Liu Luming consulted patients in the outpatient clinic of the 3+3 Torch Inheritance Liu Luming Famous Doctor Workstation of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
People's Daily Health Client: How did you get involved with clinical oncology, and what made you persevere on the road of cancer treatment over the years?
Liu Luming: The relationship with the tumor can be said to be a mistake. I was admitted to graduate school when I was 34 years old, and this was my last chance at the age limit at that time. In 1986, I was finally admitted to Shanghai Medical University as a graduate student, but my major was a field that I had never touched before - oncology. At first, I was still very new to cancer, only regarded it as a subject, until I walked into the cancer ward for the first time, and saw many advanced cancer patients lying on the hospital bed, looking at those suffocating and desperate eyes, I made up my mind: I will fight cancer to the end in my life, and I must find a way to defeat it.
People's Daily Health Client: As an expert in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, the integrated treatment plan you created based on the pancreatic cleansing formula has achieved very good results, can you talk about your thoughts?
Luming Liu: In the years of treating cancer, patients have been my best teachers. The pancreatic formula is based on the experience of treating patients. In 1997, I was invited to Hangzhou for a consultation, and the patient had just undergone jejunal anastomosis and the pain was unbearable. I chose the ancient recipe Sanren soup and added some anti-tumor Chinese medicine. This patient has been insisting on taking Chinese medicine. 1 year has passed, 3 years have passed, 5 years have passed, and I am still alive and well. Later, I used this prescription as the basic prescription to formulate a basic prescription for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, which is called the Qing Pancreatic Hua Ji Formula. So I often joke with my patients, "You were my teacher in the first year, your lecturer in the second year, your associate professor in the third year, and my doctoral supervisor in the fifth year, and I have been learning from you all my life." ”
In recent years, the incidence of pancreatic cancer has been on the rise. Due to the high metastatic capacity of pancreatic cancer and the rapid ability of tissue invasion, the 5-year survival rate of patients is no more than 5% (1). Many patients have been sentenced to death by many hospitals when they come to me, but we have found life for many people. A retrospective study based on 232 postoperative patients with pancreatic cancer showed that the 1-year survival rate was 52%, the 2-year survival rate was 24%, the 3-year survival rate was 18%, and the median survival time was 15.43 months (2).
In September 2020, Liu Luming (middle) discussed the patient's condition with doctors in the 3+3 Torch Inheritance Liu Luming Famous Doctor Workstation of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
People's Daily Health Client: In many hospitals, the so-called "integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine" is often a trilogy of surgery, radiotherapy/chemotherapy, and traditional Chinese medicine conditioning. What is the role of TCM and Western medicine in the treatment of cancer?
Liu Luming: Cancer treatment is an art of warfare, and the ancients said that medicine is like using soldiers. In the face of tumors, we must have the spirit of "the enemy advances and we retreat, the enemy is stationed and disturbs us, the enemy is tired and we fight, and the enemy retreats and we pursue". To treat cancer, it is necessary to treat it as a protracted battle, not just a single battlefield. Cancer treatment also pays attention to the virtual and the real, luring the enemy to go deep and waiting for the opportunity to destroy the enemy, which is an accurate grasp of time and space.
From a human point of view, TCM considers the comfort and smoothness of the entire system. Western medicine, on the other hand, considers how to eliminate the lesion from the perspective of disease. Taking pancreatic cancer as an example, Western medicine mainly uses surgery, radiotherapy/chemotherapy and other treatment methods, but the results are uneven, and some treatments are not satisfactory. In my integrated medical plan, I mainly use traditional Chinese medicine as the guiding ideology, and Western medicine technology as the cooperation. The integration of Western medicine methods into the system of traditional Chinese medicine has proved to work well.
In May 2021, Liu Luming (second from left) made rounds in the ward of the 3+3 Torch Inheritance Liu Luming Famous Doctor Workstation of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
People's Daily Health Client: You have said many times, "Diseases can be seen badly, people can live well", does this mean "survival with tumors"? How to make advanced cancer patients have a basic quality of life?
Liu Luming: In reality, it is difficult to completely cure cancer, which is illustrated by the fact that so many patients have recurred and metastasized. In other words, since cancer is not easy to cure, why not focus on "living well"? Many people take the success of the operation and whether the test data meet the standards as the basis for the curative effect, which is biased. The patient's perception must also be used as a reference for the effectiveness of the treatment. If the patient is living a miserable life, what is the use of good indicators?
To provide patients with advanced cancer with a basic quality of life is to reduce the pain they feel and make their lives as comfortable as possible. This is also a very important point in "survival with tumors", which does not mean that the tumor is ignored, and the ultimate goal of treatment is still to eliminate the tumor, but to minimize its impact on the patient. It seems that the cancer is not completely cured, but the patient can work, study and live like a normal person, and can live a more quality and dignified life. The longest survival of cancer patients here has been more than 20 years, and there are many cancer patients who have survived for 5 years or 10 years.
In September 2021, Liu Luming (second from right) discussed the patient's condition with doctors in the 3+3 Torch Inheritance Liu Luming Famous Doctor Workstation of Beijing Municipal Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
People's Daily Health Client: How to recognise and understand tumors, and what are the suggestions for anti-cancer and cancer prevention in life?
Liu Luming: To put it simply, a tumor is an extra piece of "meat" growing on the body, and it is a malignant tumor that usually makes people talk about cancer. But if the malignant tumor is effectively controlled, it is in fact like a benign tumor. So far, the scientific community has not been able to decipher the internal mechanism of tumors, but human beings are not completely helpless against tumors, if the comprehensive treatment plan of integrated medicine is rigorously designed, it can effectively or efficiently control malignant tumor cells, do not let it run around, and transform uncontrollable tumors into controllable tumors, as long as it does not cause the failure of life organs, people will not die, and can even comfortably live with tumors.
It is necessary to pay attention to anti-cancer and anti-cancer dietary habits. For example, asparagus has been found to have the function of preventing the spread of cancer cells, and has special effects on lymphogranuloma, bladder cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, etc. This substance can inhibit cancers of the digestive system, and lentils are used for gastrointestinal tumors with weak spleen and damp internal resistance. In addition to diet, maintaining a good lifestyle and strengthening daily exercise are beneficial to the fight against cancer and cancer (3). Of course, it is important to actively cooperate with the doctor.
People's Daily Health Client: In recent years, the status and influence of traditional Chinese medicine in the world have undergone a lot of changes, what are your experiences?
Luming Liu: In 1992, my first time I went abroad was to the UK to participate in cancer palliative medicine training. I went to many hospitals, including the world's first hospice hospital, St. Christopher's Hospital in London. After spending more than a month in the UK, the biggest feeling is that the gap is too big, and we are still far behind.
Over the years, while working hard, I have also been paying attention to international developments. In 2000, the Americans discovered that many cancer patients were taking natural medicines, so they set up a special team to study traditional medicine around the world, and Chinese medicine was also one of their research objects. Since 2003, Fudan University Cancer Hospital and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have jointly applied for NIH R21, U19 and R01 in 2008, all of which have been successful. In today's cancer treatment, the role of traditional Chinese medicine is becoming more and more important, which is inseparable from the efforts of generations. I am 74 years old this year, and I hope to continue to contribute more to the cause of medicine in my limited life.
Bibliography:
①胰腺癌流行现状与病因机制分析[J].国际生物医学工程杂志, 2022,45(4) : 340-344,349. DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.cn121382-20220305-00410
(2) A retrospective study on the treatment of 232 patients with pancreatic cancer after surgery[J].Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine,2018,38(8):932-935. DOI：10.7661/j.cjim.20180512.011
(3) Eating the right vegetables also prevents cancer Eat more of these ten vegetables to let the cancer cells run away when they see you, Tianjin Municipal Health Commission, https://wsjk.tj.gov.cn/JKJY5233/JKZS7782/202008/t20200828_3579881.html