Traditional Chinese medicine and cancer: historic deposits and 50-years innovation and development

There are over 2000-years history of applying traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to treat cancer. The historic deposits of the experiment in cancer treatment by TCM provide a precondition for the modernization of TCM oncology. On the other hand, the 50-years innovation and development of TCM oncology after the foundation of new China accelerated this precious cultural inheritance to show a new life in cancer treatment. In this article, we systemically reviewed the development and the current status of TCM oncology, including the modern application of TCM oncology; the 50-years research work of TCM oncology; how to regarding and evaluating TCM oncology; as well as the prospection of the future development of TCM oncology.