title: Meta-analysis of Chinese medicines for prevention and treatment of radiation esophagitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To systematically assess the clinical effectiveness of Chinese medicines for prevention and treatment of radiation esophagitis by meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The articles were mainly retrieved from the "CHKD (China Hospital Knowledge Database) periodical full text databank", the "China periodical full text databank", the "CHKD doctor's and Master's degree student full text databank", and the "China doctor's degree student thesis databank", and they were selected according to the literature selection standard. The effects of Chinese medicines and Western medicines on radiation esophagitis were compared by meta-analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on 13 articles, we found that the effectiveness of Chinese medicines for prevention and treatment of radiation esophagitis was superior to Western medicines, with no obvious side effects. Meta-analysis showed that the total odds ratio was 0.426 and the 95% confidence interval was 0.368, 0.493.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chinese medicines are superior to Western medicines in preventing and treating radiation esophagitis. However, some methodological problems in the literature may have affected the authenticity of the results. Therefore, more rigorous, multi-central, randomized controlled trials with a large sample size should be designed to obtain a more reliable conclusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China. lujunzhang@sina.com
authors.forename: Jun-Zhang
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiu-tang
authors.initials: XT
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Ming-hui
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D004941:Esophagitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D017594:Publication Bias; D019413:Qi; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control