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.