Effectiveness of Chinese Herbal Medicine as a Complementary Treatment for Neutropenia Prevention and Immunity Modulation During Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer: Protocol for a Real-World Pragmatic Clinical Trial

Kai-Hung Wang   ^{1 *} , PhD ;   Hsuan-Shu Shen   ^{2, 3, 4 *} , MD ;   Sung-Chao Chu   ^{5, 6} , MD, PhD ;   Tso-Fu Wang   ^{5, 6} , MD ;   Ching-Wei Lin   ^{2, 3} , MD ;   Wei-Han Huang   ^{5, 6, 7} , MD ;   Yi-Feng Wu   ^{5, 6} , MD ;   Ching-Chun Ho   ⁸ , MD ;   Cheng-Yoong Pang   ^{1, 9} , PhD ;   Chi-Cheng Li   ^{5, 6, 10} , MD

¹ Department of Medical Research, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

² Department of Chinese Medicine, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

³ School of Post-Baccalaureate Chinese Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

⁴ Sports Medicine Center, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

⁵ Department of Hematology and Oncology, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

⁶ School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

⁷ Department of Clinical Pathology, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

⁸ Department of Surgery, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

⁹ Institute of Medical Sciences, Tzu Chi University, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

¹⁰ Center of Stem Cell and Precision Medicine, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan

*these authors contributed equally