Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan-Dec:24:15347354251313533.
doi: 10.1177/15347354251313533.

Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Psychological Rehabilitation After Lung Cancer Surgery: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis protocol

Luchang Cao  1 , Zilin Wang  1 , Xinmiao Wang  1 , Guanghui Zhu  1 , Ying Zhang  1 , Jie Li  1
Affiliations

Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Psychological Rehabilitation After Lung Cancer Surgery: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis protocol

Luchang Cao et al. Integr Cancer Ther. 2025 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Background: The incidence and mortality of lung cancer is the highest among malignant tumors worldwide, and it seriously threatens human life and health. Surgery is the primary radical treatment for lung cancer. However, patients often experience discomfort, changes in social roles, economic pressures, and other postsurgical challenges. These factors frequently cause various psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression, significantly diminishing the quality of life and elevating the risks of recurrence, metastasis, and mortality. Therefore, effective strategies for mental function rehabilitation should be urgently developed. Traditional Chinese medicine can significantly improve psychological function and physical symptoms after lung cancer surgery, and prolong patient survival. However, its effectiveness for mental function rehabilitation after lung cancer surgery remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Chinese medicine on mental function recovery after lung cancer surgery through a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: This study will systematically search the following databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, VIP database, and Chinese BioMedical Literature database. Search for studies published from the inception of each database until April 22, 2024. This study will be limited to clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The primary outcome will be depression or anxiety, as indicated by the scale score. Data analysis will be performed using RevMan 5. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool will be used to evaluate the quality of included studies. Finally, the quality of the evidence will be classified using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) System.

Results: This meta-analysis aims to offer comprehensive evidence of the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine in mental function rehabilitation after lung cancer surgery. The study will assess the quality of the reports and conduct a subgroup analysis based on various postoperative stages, intervention measures, intervention duration, and sex to gather more evidence to fill the gap in psychological function rehabilitation after lung cancer surgery. These data can be used to guide clinical practice and inform future studies. More importantly, the results of this study will provide evidence to support the development of expert consensus and clinical guidelines in the field of mental function rehabilitation after lung cancer surgery.

Keywords: lung cancer; meta-analysis; psychological rehabilitation; surgery; traditional Chinese medicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart. EMBASE, Excerpt Medica Database; CBM, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database; CNKI, China National Knowledge Infrastructure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bray F, Laversanne M, Sung H, et al.. Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2024;74:229-263.;doi:10.3322/caac.21834 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fischer IC, Cripe LD, Rand KL. Predicting symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients living with advanced cancer: the differential roles of hope and optimism. Support Care Cancer. 2018;26:3471-3477. doi:10.1007/s00520-018-4215-0 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Deng L, Chen B. Two-scale assessment of anxiety and depression in postoperative non-small cell lung cancer patients: their prevalence, risk factors, and prognostic potency. Ir J Med Sci. 2023;192:2613-2619. doi:10.1007/s11845-023-03321-w - DOI - PubMed
    1. Siwik CJ, Phillips K, Zimmaro L, Salmon P, Sephton SE. Depressive symptoms among patients with lung cancer: elucidating the roles of shame, guilt, and self-compassion. J Health Psychol. 2022;27:1039-1047. doi:10.1177/1359105320988331 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Park S, Kang CH, Hwang Y, et al.. Risk factors for postoperative anxiety and depression after surgical treatment for lung cancerdagger. Eur J Cardio-Thorac Surg. 2016;49:e16-e21. doi:10.1093/ejcts/ezv336 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources