title: External Application of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Venous Ulcers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
abstract: Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of external application of traditional Chinese medicine (EA-TCM) on venous ulcers. Methods. Seven databases were searched until April 2015 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of EA-TCM for venous ulcers. Risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane Handbook guidelines. Study outcomes were presented as risk ratios (RRs) for dichotomous data or mean differences (MDs) for continuous data. Results. Sixteen of 193 potentially relevant trials met the inclusion criteria; however, their methodological qualities were low. Comparison of the same intervention strategies revealed significant differences in total effectiveness rates between EA-TCM and conventional therapy groups (RR = 1.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16-1.29, and P < 0.00001). Compared to conventional therapy, EA-TCM combined with conventional therapy had a superior total effectiveness rate (RR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.04-1.19, and P = 0.003). There were no significant differences in recurrence rates during followup and final pain measurements between the experimental and those in the control groups (RR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.31-2.39, and P = 0.85; MD -0.75, 95% CI = -2.15-0.65, and P = 0.29). Conclusion. The evidence that EA-TCM is an effective treatment for venous ulcers is encouraging, but not conclusive due to the low methodological quality of the RCTs. Therefore, more high-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes are required.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China.
authors.forename: Qing-Qing
authors.initials: QQ
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China.
authors.forename: Kan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ze
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China.
authors.forename: Su
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Vessel, Shanghai TCM-Integrated Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200082, China.
authors.forename: Qin-Tong
authors.initials: QT
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China.
authors.forename: Fu-Lun
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li