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Tryptophan and Brain Disorders / Cancer Survivorship and Care · Journal article
Psycho-oncologie · August 11, 2026
Encouraging direction, but not yet definitive.
A double-blind RCT of 123 HCC patients with comorbid depression assigned to Chaihu-Shugan-San plus conventional therapy versus placebo plus conventional therapy for 12 weeks found statistically significant improvements in psychosocial adaptation and meaning in life with the herbal adjunct, alongside improvements in depressive symptoms and inflammatory markers. The trial is methodologically sound but does not report effect sizes or confidence intervals, and relies on surrogate psychosocial endpoints rather than clinically hard outcomes.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. HCC patients with BCLC stage A/B and comorbid moderate-to-severe depression (HAMD-17 score ≥17); 132 eligible patients enrolled.. Intervention: Conventional antitumor therapy plus Chaihu-Shugan-San (CHSGS) granule for 12 weeks.. Compared with: Conventional antitumor therapy plus placebo for 12 weeks.. n = 123.
Combination group demonstrated significantly higher PAIS-SR and MIPS scores at week 12 and at follow-up compared to control group (exact values not provided). Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant interaction effects between time and group on psychosocial adaptation and meaning in life. Combination group showed significantly greater improvements in HAMD-17 depressive symptoms and FACT-Hep quality of life scores than control group.
Psychosocial adaptation and meaning in life are surrogate endpoints; no data on mortality, recurrence, or other clinical hard outcomes.
The findings suggest that adjunctive Chaihu-Shugan-San may improve psychosocial and emotional outcomes in HCC patients with depression, potentially through anti-inflammatory mechanisms. However, the lack of hard clinical outcomes and absence of effect size reporting limits immediate translation to clinical practice without confirmation in larger, multicentre trials.
Adequately powered, double-blind RCT with validated outcome measures in a defined population, but limited to surrogate psychosocial endpoints and a single centre context without separate reporting of effect sizes or confidence intervals.
As stated by the source record.
Quoted from the source exactly as published.
The findings suggest that adjunctive Chaihu-Shugan-San may improve psychosocial and emotional outcomes in HCC patients with depression, potentially through anti-inflammatory mechanisms. However, the lack of hard clinical outcomes and absence of effect size reporting limits immediate translation to clinical practice without confirmation in larger, multicentre trials.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Chaihu-Shugan-San (CHSGS), a classic Chinese herbal formula, as an adjunctive intervention on psychosocial adaptation and meaning in life in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) comorbid with depression, and to preliminarily explore its potential mechanisms. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted. A total of 132 eligible HCC patients (BCLC stage A/B) with comorbid moderate-to-severe depression (HAMD-17 score ≥ 17) were randomly assigned to either the combination group (conventional antitumor therapy plus CHSGS granule) or the control group (conventional antitumor therapy plus placebo) for a 12-week intervention. The primary outcomes were the total scores of the Chinese versions of the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS-SR) and the Meaning in Life Presence Scale (MIPS). Secondary outcomes included the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) score, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Hepatobiliary (FACT-Hep) score, and serum levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α). Assessments were performed at baseline, week 6, week 12 (end of intervention), and at a 4-week follow-up. Results: A total of 123 patients completed the study. Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed significant interaction effects between time and group on both psychosocial adaptation and meaning in life. Compared to the control group, the combination group demonstrated significantly higher PAIS-SR and MIPS scores at week 12 and at follow-up. Furthermore, the combination group showed significantly greater improvements in depressive symptoms and quality of life, as well as greater reductions in serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels than the control group. Correlation analysis indicated that the improvement in psychosocial adaptation was negatively correlated with the decrease in IL-6, and the enhancement of meaning in life was negatively correlated with the decrease in TNF-α. Conclusion: Adjuvant use of Chaihu-Shugan-San alongside conventional antitumor therapy effectively improves psychosocial adaptation and meaning in life, alleviates depressive symptoms, and enhances quality of life in HCC patients with depression. Its effects may be associated with the modulation of inflammatory responses. This formula provides a beneficial Traditional Chinese Medicine option for the integrated mind-body care of HCC patients.
Taken from the source record, never inferred. Follow any of these and new work involving them reaches your briefing.