Summary

There is consensus that attitudes toward seeking complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are different between oriental and western patients. A 16-year-old girl who presented with enlarged breast tumours also had a 3-year history of “Si-Wu-Tang” (SWT) intake. Pathology of the resected breast tumour disclosed a giant fibroadenoma with aneuploid status. A cohort study was conducted between two groups of patients with fibroadenomas: SWT intake (+) group and SWT intake (−) group. Patients were told to discontinue SWT intake for 3 months, and this was followed by breast ultrasonographic examination in both groups. The tumour sizes before and after discontinued SWT intake were 2.3±0.11 cm and 1.5±0.12 cm in the SWT (+) group, and 1.7±0.15 cm and 1.6±0.14 cm in SWT (−) group, respectively (p<0.05). It is concluded that this report provides important information for patients with breast tissue diseases and that continuous intake of medicinal herbs is recommended only under the guidance of trained CAM providers.