Abstract: Objective: To explore the curative effect and toxic and side effects of Xihuang Capsule in the patients with advanced esophageal cancer treated with chemoradiotherapy, and to clarify its mechanism.Methods: The patients with advanced esophagealcancer without treatment were selected. The patients treated with Xihuang Capsule combined with concurrent chemoradiotherapy were defined as combination treatment group(n=27), and then other 27 patients were randomly selected from 87 patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone as chemoradiotherapy group. The observation time was 90 d from the begining of chemotherapy. The differences in KPS, degree of dysphagia, incidence, occurrence time and degrees of acute radiation esophagitis of the patients in two groups were compared, and local control of tumor was analyzed.Results: After treatment, the KPS scores of the pateints in two groups were decreased, and the KPS score in combined treatment group was significantly higher than that in chemoradiotherapy group (P<0.05). The grade of dysphagia of the patients in combined treatment group was lower than that in chemoradiotherapy group during the late period of treatment(P<0.05). The incidence of acute radiation esophagitis, the occurence time of acute radiation esophagitis of the patients in combination group was lower than that in chemoradiotherapy group (P<0.05);the occurrence time of acute radiation esophagitis was later than that in chemoradiotherapy group (P<0.05); but there were no significant differences in the grades of acute radiation esophagitis and tumor local control between two groups(P>0.05).Conclusion: Xihuang Capsule can improve the quality of life, reduce dysphagia degree and the incidence of acute radiation esophagitis,and delay the occurrence time;it can be used as an effective auxiliary treatment of advanced esophageal cancer.

Key words: esophageal neoplasms, acute radiation esophagitis, Xihuang Capsule, dysphagia