Constipation is a common and serious problem for terminally ill cancer patients, often resulting in deterioration of the overall condition of the patients and causing great anxiety in their family members. Terminally ill cancer patients, according to the principle of palliative care and the symptoms of pain, are usually treated with morphine-like analgesics orally or by injection and are therefore very likely to suffer from constipation, poor appetite, bloating and other relevant symptoms. The Chinese herbal composition of rhubarb and licorice extracts disclosed in this study can notably improve the symptoms of constipation, poor appetite, and bloating, and these results are statistically significant.便秘對於癌末病患而言，是一種普遍存在且嚴重的問題，經常造成病人整體狀況的惡化，也造成病患家屬極大的焦慮。癌末病人，由於疼痛的症狀，依安寧照護原則，給予口服或針劑嗎啡類止痛劑，也容易造成便秘、食慾不佳或腹脹等症狀。本研究給予大黃及甘草之中草藥組合物，結果發現，給予該中草藥組合物可明顯改善便秘、食慾不振及腹脹症狀，並達到統計學上的意義。
