Chinese herbal decoctions YHHYT, BZT, and FJHQT show varying efficacy for breast cancer treatment outcomesChinese herbal decoctions show promise in breast cancer treatment

BackgroundBreast cancer is the most common malignant tumor among women globally. While traditional treatments are effective, they are associated with numerous side effects. In recent years, traditional Chinese herbal decoctions have garnered attention as adjunctive therapeutic approaches. This study employs a network meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of various Chinese herbal decoctions in breast cancer treatment.MethodsA systematic search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, Wan fang, and VIP databases for randomized controlled trials comparing the efficacy and safety of different Chinese herbal decoctions in breast cancer patients, up to 20 December 2025. Quality assessment was performed using the Risk of Bias 2.0 tool. Network meta-analysis was conducted using R 4.5.1.ResultsA total of 68 articles involving 4,708 patients were included, meta-analysis results suggest that compared with the control group, for objective response rate YHHYT [OR = 4.76, 95%CrI (1.25, 25)] ranked first in cumulative probability (81.42%). Regarding disease control rate, BZT demonstrated an [OR = 5.77, 95%CrI (1.59, 29)] and ranked first in cumulative probability (74.66%). For CD4+/CD8+, FJHQT [MD= MD = 0.69, 95%CrI (0.2, 1.17)] achieved an 88.00% cumulative probability ranking, finally, regarding nausea and vomiting relief BZT [OR = 0.25, 95%CrI (0.1, 0.57)] ranked first in cumulative probability (75.67%).ConclusionsThis study employed a network meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of multiple Chinese herbal decoctions in breast cancer treatment. Results demonstrated that these decoctions exhibited significant therapeutic effects in enhancing target response rates, disease control rates, and immune function (CD4+/CD8+ ratio) among breast cancer patients, while also alleviating chemotherapy side effects such as nausea and vomiting.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420261279914, identifier CRD420261279914.