Trial reportThe oncologist2025
Phase II trial of radiotherapy plus Huachansu in elderly or chemotherapy-ineligible patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Trial report in The oncologist, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02647125 (A Phase II Study of Comparing Huachansu Combination With Thoracic Radiotherapy Versus Radiotherapy Alone For Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Phase II Study of Comparing Huachansu Combination With Thoracic Radiotherapy Versus Radiotherapy Alone For Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Metabolic reprogramming in cancer: dysregulation of glucose, lipid, and amino acid pathways and therapeutic opportunities.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPreclinical studies have demonstrated that Huachansu, a traditional Chinese medicine derived from toad venom, exhibits radiosensitizing properties. This study aimed to explore whether Huachansu plus radiotherapy can improve the tumor control in elderly and chemotherapy-ineligible patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).
methodsEligible patients were randomly assigned at a 1:1 ratio to receive either radiotherapy alone (RT) or combined Huachansu and radiotherapy (Huachansu + RT). The primary endpoint was locoregional control, and the secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and treatment-related toxicities.
resultsFrom September 2015 to January 2020, 126 patients who met the eligibility criteria were randomly assigned to the Huachansu + RT group (n = 65) or the RT alone group (n = 61) from three hospitals. At a median follow-up of 64.8 months (IQR 37.8-78.3), the median locoregional control time was 12.9 months (95% CI 0-27.0) in the Huachansu + RT group and 22.0 months (95% CI 0-52.0) in the RT alone group (HR = 1.35, 95% CI 0.82-2.22; P = .235). The median OS time was 15.0 months (95% CI 10.3-19.7) in the Huachansu + RT group and 17.2 months (95% CI 11.3-23.1) in the RT alone group (HR 1.03 95% CI 0.71-1.51 P = .868). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the incidence of acute grade 3 or higher adverse events.
conclusionsCompared with radiotherapy alone, concurrent radiotherapy with Huachansu injection did not improve the locoregional control rate or survival rate in elderly patients or chemotherapy-ineligible patients with locally advanced ESCC. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.org, NCT02647125.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.