Western medicine treats women with breast cancer through surgery to remove cancer, radiation to kill and reduce the size of cancer cells and chemotherapy to kill cancer cells and prevent the disease from returning. Western doctors also may use drugs that prevent estrogen from attaching to cancer cells and causing them to grow. In particularly serious cases, they may opt to remove bone marrow via a autologous bone marrow transplant after chemo is complete.

By contrast, traditional Chinese medicine uses a series of herbs to treat the disease based on the patient’s symptoms. Chinese medicine addresses the disease through four approaches: suppressing the disease (with Tulipa edulis); fighting cancer and cleansing the body (with the likes of odlenlandia, notoginseng root and bugleweed, among others); boosting immunity (ligustrum seed and polyporus are some options); and preventing change in breast cell genes that lead to cancer (through lycii fruit, ligustrum seed and cuscuta seed).

Then, it looks at one of the following after therapy: chi blood deficiency for those with low cell immunity; Chi Yin deficiency for patients with a low lymphocyte transformation rate and low level of seroimmunity globulins; or dryness with heat toxins to rid the body of toxins resulting from conventional treatment. Then, a specific herbal formula is customized and administered based on deficiencies.