4.1 Conclusion
The results of our study revealed that the majority of cancer patients used herbal medicines during chemotherapy courses and all of them who used herbal medicines had potential herb-drug interactions. As regards, the consequences of herb-drug interactions may be life-threating or change the treatment process of cancer patients. In addition, as the interactions of many herbal medicines with chemotherapeutic agents are not clear, physicians and health care workers should pay more attention to these patients and avoid them to take herbal medicines in combination with chemotherapeutic agents. The risk of herb-drug interactions will remarkably decrease with proper patient education and the training of their families, monitoring the side effects of chemotherapy in patients and consulting patients to prevent them from self-medication with herbal medicines by involving traditional medicine specialists in the treatment process of cancer patients. Extensive studies are recommended to determine the interactions between herbal medicines and chemotherapeutic agents.