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Zhang Wei was 51 when he was diagnosed with advanced nasopharyngeal cancer. His doctors told him radiotherapy was the standard treatment—but they also warned him about what to expect: severe mouth sores that made eating almost impossible, crushing fatigue, and a dry mouth that felt like sandpaper, which he would have to live with for the rest of his life. He went through the full course anyway, because when you are facing advanced cancer, you take whatever chance you can get.

But decades later, researchers are still asking the same question that Zhang probably wondered in the hospital all those years ago: is there a better way? Or at least a way with fewer side effects and better odds?

A clinical study published in 2003 suggests there might be. It combined a traditional Chinese medicine formula containing leech (Hirudo nipponia) with radiotherapy for patients with advanced nasopharyngeal cancer—and the results were hard to ignore.

Let us break down what the study found, and why it matters.

What the Study Did

Between February 1996 and February 1998, researchers treated 41 patients with advanced nasopharyngeal cancer using radiotherapy alongside a TCM formula designed to "activate blood circulation and resolve stasis"—a category of herbs that includes leech (water leech), san leng (sparganium), and e zhu (zedoary). A separate group of 39 patients received radiotherapy alone, as a control. The researchers then followed everyone for more than five years, tracking both short- and long-term outcomes.

Better Short-Term Results

In the short term, the combination group performed noticeably better. Out of the 41 patients who got the TCM formula plus radiotherapy, 34 showed a significant response after treatment—meaning their tumors shrank substantially or even disappeared entirely. That is an 82.9% response rate. In the radiotherapy-only group, 27 out of 39 patients responded: about 69.2%. The difference was not small. Adding the herbal formula boosted the response rate by nearly 14 percentage points.

"Significant response" here means the kind of shrinkage that doctors get genuinely excited about. For patients, it means a real shot at something better.

Better Long-Term Survival

This is where things really get interesting.

Three years after treatment, 25 of the 41 patients in the combination group were still alive—61%. In the control group, only 14 of the 39 patients survived: barely 35.9%. That is a gap of more than 25 percentage points.

At the five-year mark, 20 of the 41 patients who received the TCM formula were still alive—48.8%. In the radiotherapy-only group, just 10 of the original 39 had survived—25.6%.

Nearly double. A five-year follow-up in cancer research is considered gold-standard data. It tells you what really works over the long haul. And these numbers suggest that adding that TCM formula made a profound difference.

Why Leech?

At this point you might reasonably be wondering: what does a leech have to do with cancer treatment?

The answer sits at the intersection of ancient wisdom and modern molecular science.

In traditional Chinese medicine, cancer has long been understood as a condition where "stagnation" builds up over time. Blood and energy stop flowing properly, toxins accumulate, and eventually a mass forms. Leeches are prized specifically for their ability to break up stasis and get things moving again. From a TCM viewpoint, by clearing those blockages, the body's own systems have a better chance of working right—and radiotherapy might be more effective when circulation is optimized.

Now here is the modern part: leech saliva is a pharmacological treasure chest. Researchers have identified more than 34 active ingredients in Hirudo nipponia alone, including peptides, phosphatidylcholines, and pteridines. A transcriptomic study found that over 21 genes expressed in the leech's salivary glands are linked to anticoagulatory, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory, and—crucially—antitumor processes. The star player is hirudin, a naturally occurring peptide that happens to be the most potent thrombin inhibitor known. It keeps blood from clotting, sure, but it also does something else: it interferes with the mechanisms that allow tumors to grow and spread. Modern pharmacological research has confirmed that leech and its active compounds have anti-coagulation, anti-thrombosis, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fibrosis effects, among others.

In other words, the reason leech has been used for thousands of years may be the same reason it shows promise in modern oncology: it changes the internal environment in ways that make it harder for disease to take hold.

Leech is no fringe remedy. It is listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. It is a standard ingredient in widely used formulations like Tongxinluo capsule and Da Huang Zhe Chong pill. And today, research into its potential continues to expand, from cardiovascular health to cancer therapy.

But there is nuance—and a lesson

Now, a quick note about a separate study that came out around the same time. A 2004 paper compared radiotherapy plus "blood-activating" herbs alone against radiotherapy plus "tonifying and blood-activating" herbs. The finding was striking: the group that got only blood-activating herbs actually showed an increase in distant metastasis. The tonifying-and-blood-activating group, however, saw significantly better survival. This suggests that when you stir things up—make blood flow more vigorously—you had better have something to support the patient's overall constitution and immune function at the same time. Moving the river is good; dredging it without reinforcing the banks can cause problems. A balanced formula, addressing both stasis and underlying deficiency, seems to be essential.

That 2003 study also had its limitations. It was a single-center study with a relatively small sample size. It is not the final word. But here is what is encouraging: a 2023 meta-analysis looked at 15 high-quality clinical trials involving 1,324 patients and found that adding a Chinese medicine compound regimen to concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy significantly improved overall efficacy, quality of life, immune function (CD4+ levels and CD4+/CD8+ ratio), and—importantly—reduced the drop in white blood cell counts that makes radiotherapy so hard to tolerate. In other words, not only does TCM help the treatment work better, it helps patients feel better while going through it.

What this means for patients

If you or someone you love is navigating advanced nasopharyngeal cancer, you know that every percentage point matters. An extra 25% chance of surviving three years? That matters. Being able to eat without pain because mouth sores are less severe? That matters too. This is not about choosing between modern medicine and traditional remedies. It is about combining them wisely, using the best of both.

Radiotherapy kills cancer cells directly. That is its job. Traditional formulas that include herbs like leech may help create the conditions where those cells are more vulnerable—and where the patient's body is better able to tolerate the assault of treatment. It is not magic. It is synergy.

The bottom line

This one study from 2003 is not going to rewrite the textbooks by itself. But it is part of a growing body of evidence that suggests something important: sometimes the most powerful answers are not brand new. Sometimes they have been swimming in rivers for thousands of years, waiting for modern science to catch up.

We are not suggesting anyone abandon their oncologist's advice in favor of herbs alone. That would be dangerous. But adding a thoughtfully formulated TCM regimen to radiotherapy? That is a conversation worth having.

And for those of us who work with Hirudo nipponia every day—breeding them, studying them, extracting their active compounds—studies like this one are both validation and motivation. They remind us why this humble creature, sometimes called the "soft gold of the water," has earned its place in the pharmacopoeia and why it still has so much to teach us.

About Jingzhou Minkang Biotechnology Co., Ltd.

Jingzhou Minkang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is a company that specializes in the breeding, processing, and research of Hirudo nipponia (Japanese medical leech). Our expertise is rooted in over a decade of dedicated work: we were founded in 2008, and by 2014 we had built the largest-scale, factory-based breeding facility for Japanese medical leeches in China. We hold the largest population of this species in the country and are the only enterprise capable of full life-cycle artificial breeding, from egg cocoon to mature leech. We are also a national demonstration enterprise for the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine with a focus on animal-derived ingredients.

Our commitment extends beyond farming. We have developed a full-chain operation that covers ecological breeding, processing, and product development. With over 20 patents—domestic and international—we have pioneered technologies in artificial breeding and bioactive extraction. Our work is supported by ongoing collaborations with leading academic institutions in China, including the Hubei University of Chinese Medicine and other research organizations under the "515" action plan for the Chinese medicinal leech industry, a provincial-level initiative aimed at advancing ecological farming and upstream processing. We hold the distinction of being China's first enterprise to file for quality certification of animal-derived TCM materials.

At Jingzhou Minkang, we believe that ancient remedies deserve modern science. And we are proud to be part of the ongoing story of Hirudo nipponia—a story that is still being written.