title: A meta-analysis of neuroprotective effect for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of glaucoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of surgery combined with traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)in the treatment of glaucoma by meta-analysis based on clinical controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  All the prospective randomized controlled trialsof surgery combined with TCM in the treatment of glaucoma were searched in the databases of Medline (1960-2015.1), CENTRAL (the Cochrane central register of controlled trials 1989-2015.1, EMBASE (1980∼2015.1) and CNKI (1979-2015.1). Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of the included studies, extracted the relevant data and performed a cross-check. The pooled relative risk (RR) or standard mean difference (SMD) of surgery combined with TCM versus western medicine or surgery alone were calculated as the effect size by meta-analysis method. All the data was analyzed by stata11.0 software (http://www.stata.com; Stata Corporation, College Station, TX).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Finally, eleven clinical controlledtrails with 843 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results indicated that the surgery combined with TCM treatment procedure can significant improve the vision recovery rate compared to control group (RR=1.22, 95% CI:1.06∼1.40, P=0.005); And after treatment, the visual field in combined group was significantly improved compared to control group (SMD=0.26∼95% CI:0.09∼0.43, P=0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgery combined with TCM can improve the vision recovery rate and the visual fieldin the treatment of glaucoma compared to surgery or western medicine alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Suzhou Kowloon Hospital Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Suzhou 215000 PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Xinxiang Medical University, Henan Xinxiang 453003 PR China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Na
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Suzhou Kowloon Hospital Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Suzhou 215000 PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Suzhou Kowloon Hospital Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Suzhou 215000 PR China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Botao
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Suzhou Kowloon Hospital Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Suzhou 215000 PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shuaijie
keywords: Glaucoma; clinical controlled trial; meta-analysis; surgery; traditional Chinese medicine