title: Xuebijing for paraquat poisoning.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  At present, there is a lack of effective treatments for paraquat poisoning. Xuebijing injection is a complex traditional Chinese prescription consisting of Flos Carthami, Radix Paeoniae Rubra, Rhizoma Chuanxiong, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae and Radix Angelicae Sinensis. Although clinical experience suggests that Xuebijing injection might have potential in the management of paraquat poisoning, there is no conclusion on the effectiveness of this treatment.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effects of Xuebijing injection in patients with paraquat poisoning.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched the Cochrane Injuries Group's Specialised Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE (OvidSP), EMBASE (OvidSP), CINAHL (EBSCO), ISI Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded, ISI Web of Science: Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science, Chinese bio-medical literature and retrieval system (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Database. The search was run on the 29th May 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included all randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing Xuebijing injection combined with conventional care against conventional care alone.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two or three authors independently selected studies, assessed study quality and extracted data. We calculated the mortality risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Data on all-cause mortality at the end of follow-up were summarised in a meta-analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified two trials including 84 people. Although there were fewer deaths in people treated with Xuebijing injection, meta-analysis showed that it did not provide a statistically significant benefit in reducing all-cause mortality in people with paraquat poisoning as compared to control (RR 0.71; 95% CI 0.48 to 1.04; P = 0.08).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the findings of two small RCTs, Xuebijing injection did not have a statistically significant benefit on reducing all-cause mortality in people with paraquat poisoning. However, both included studies involved small numbers of participants and were considered to be of poor methodological quality. The results are imprecise and easily compatible with the play of chance. Xuebijing injection may be effective for people with paraquat poisoning; however, this needs to be proven by further high-quality evidence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanhua University, Hengyang, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.forename: Qiaoyuan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Yunhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liao
mesh_terms: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006540:Herbicides / Q000506:poisoning*; D006801:Humans; D010269:Paraquat / Q000506:poisoning*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D006540:Herbicides; C549376:Xuebijing; D010269:Paraquat