Chinese Herbal Medicine for Primary Dysmenorrhea
Zhu X, Proctor M, Bensoussan A, Wu E, Smith C.
BACKGROUND: Conventional treatment for primary dysmenorrhoea has a failure rate
of 20% to 25% and may be contraindicated or not tolerated by some women. Chinese
herbal medicine may be a suitable alternative. OBJECTIVES: To determine the
efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine for primary dysmenorrhoea when
compared with placebo, no treatment, and other treatment. SEARCH STRATEGY: The
Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group Trials Register (to 2006),
MEDLINE (1950 to January 2007), EMBASE (1980 to January 2007), CINAHL (1982 to
January 2007), AMED (1985 to January 2007), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library issue
4, 2006), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI, 1990 to January 2007),
Traditional Chinese Medicine Database System (TCMDS, 1990 to December 2006), and
the Chinese BioMedicine Database (CBM, 1990 to December 2006) were searched.
Citation lists of included trials were also reviewed. SELECTION CRITERIA: Any
randomised controlled trials involving Chinese herbal medicine versus placebo,
no treatment, conventional therapy, heat compression, another type of Chinese
herbal medicine, acupuncture or massage. Exclusion criteria were identifiable
pelvic pathology and dysmenorrhoea resulting from the use of an intra-uterine
contraceptive device. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Quality assessment, data
extraction and data translation were performed independently by two review
authors. Attempts were made to contact study authors for additional information
and data. Data were combined for meta-analysis using either Peto odds ratios or
relative risk (RR) for dichotomous data or weighted mean difference for
continuous data. A fixed-effect statistical model was used, where suitable. If
data were not suitable for meta-analysis, any available data from the trial were
extracted and presented as descriptive data. MAIN RESULTS: Thirty-nine
randomised controlled trials involving a total of 3475 women were included in
the review. A number of the trials were of small sample size and poor
methodological quality. Results for Chinese herbal medicine compared to placebo
were unclear as data could not be combined (3 RCTs). Chinese herbal medicine
resulted in significant improvements in pain relief (14 RCTs; RR 1.99, 95% CI
1.52 to 2.60), overall symptoms (6 RCTs; RR 2.17, 95% CI 1.73 to 2.73) and use
of additional medication (2 RCTs; RR 1.58, 95% CI 1.30 to 1.93) when compared to
use of pharmaceutical drugs. Self-designed Chinese herbal formulae resulted in
significant improvements in pain relief (18 RCTs; RR 2.06, 95% CI 1.80 to 2.36),
overall symptoms (14 RCTs; RR 1.99, 95% CI 1.65 to 2.40) and use of additional
medication (5 RCTs; RR 1.58, 95% CI 1.34 to 1.87) after up to three months of
follow-up when compared to commonly used Chinese herbal health products. Chinese
herbal medicine also resulted in better pain relief than acupuncture (2 RCTs; RR
1.75, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.82) and heat compression (1 RCT; RR 2.08, 95% CI 2.06 to
499.18). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The review found promising evidence supporting
the use of Chinese herbal medicine for primary dysmenorrhoea; however, results
are limited by the poor methodological quality of the included trials.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Apr 16;(2):CD005288.
Source PubMed
[TOP]
Effect of Earlobe-Bleeding Plus Body Acupuncture in 85 cases
of Common Acne
Liu Z. Acupuncture Institute, China Academy of
Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of earlobe-bleeding plus body
acupuncture for common acne. METHODS: The earlobe-bleeding plus local and body
acupuncture based on syndrome differentiation was adopted for 85 cases of common
acne. RESULTS: Of the 85 cases treated, 61 were cured, 12 markedly effective, 9
improved, and 3 failed. The total effective rate was 96.47%. CONCLUSIONS: The
therapy can treat both the Biao-symptom and Ben-root of common acne, short in
course and effective in result.
J Tradit Chin Med. 2008 Mar;28(1):18-20.
Source: PubMed
[TOP]
Forty Cases of Gastrointestinal Neurosis Treated by
Acupuncture
Zhao Y, et al. Hebei Provincial Hospital of
Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang 050011, China.
OBJECTIVE: To compare the therapeutic effect of acupuncture for gastrointestinal
neurosis with that of oral remedy. METHODS: Eighty cases were randomly divided
into the following 2 groups. In the treatment group, acupuncture was given for
one month at the main points of Zhongwan (CV 12), Zusanli (ST 36), Taichong (LR
3) and Shenmen (HT 7), with the auxiliary points selected according to TCM
differentiation. In the control group, Domperidone was orally administered for
one month. RESULTS: The total effective rate was 92.5% in the treatment group
and 75.0% in the control group, with a significant difference between the 2
groups (chi2 = 4.423, P < 0.05). Acupuncture was superior to the oral remedy in
therapeutic effects. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture may show better results for
gastrointestinal neurosis and with less toxic side effects.
J Tradit Chin Med. 2008 Mar;28(1):15-7.
Source: PubMed [TOP] |
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