Evaluation of Dominant Diseases of Traditional Chinese Medicine： A Case Study of Ischemic Stroke / 中国实验方剂学杂志

The present study explored the effective approaches to realize the leading role of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） in preventing diseases， the synergistic role in treating serious diseases， the core role in the rehabilitation of diseases and summarized the experience to provide feasible plans for the evaluation of other dominant diseases of TCM. To evaluate the effectiveness， safety， and economy of TCM in the treatment of ischemic stroke， encephalopathy project team of the China Center for Evidence-based Traditional Chinese Medicine（CCEBTCM） established an evaluation group to determine the work plan and complete the evaluation work. The concepts of the evaluation involved high-quality evidence， expert opinion survey， expert interview， and drug catalog. Under the guidance of clinical experts and methodologists， the evaluation work was completed in accordance with four steps， i.e.， plan making， data collection and data extraction， evidence synthesis and evaluation， and report writing with the rapid review method. Through the review of TCM and western medicine experts， the advantage of TCM in the treatment of ischemic stroke was positioned in the convalescence period with the predominant effects of improving the neurological function defect and improving the daily living ability. In the convalescence period of stroke， TCM treatment could improve post-stroke motor dysfunction， post-stroke cognitive impairment， consciousness disorder， swallowing disorder， aphasia， constipation， urinary function， diplopia， etc.， and the advantages of acupuncture， Chinese medicine， and traditional exercise were more prominent. In terms of safety， TCM treatment of ischemic stroke showed lower incidence of adverse reactions， fewer adverse events， and a milder degree of related symptoms. In terms of economic performance， the combined treatment of TCM and western medicine played a synergistic role and made the treatment cost more reasonable. Compared with conventional intervention， the integrated TCM and western medicine rehabilitation program showed more economic and social benefits.

Network Meta-analysis of oral or nasal feeding with Chinese patent medicine in treatment of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage / 中国中药杂志

The effect of oral or nasal feeding with Chinese patent medicine on hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage was systematically evaluated by using the method of network Meta-analysis. Four Chinese databases(CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, CBM), three English databases(Medline, EMbase, Cochrane Library) and ClinicalTrials.gov were retrieved through computers. According to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria, randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of Chinese patent medicine combined with Western medicine in the treatment of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage were screened out according to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. The Cochrane bias risk assessment tool was used to evaluate the quality of the included studies, and Stata 16.0 software was used to analyze the outcome indicators. A total of 3 888 literatures were retrieved, and 30 studies involving 6 kinds of Chinese patent medicines were finally included. The total sample size was 2 758 cases, including 1 401 cases in the treatment group and 1 357 cases in the control group. According to the results of network Meta-analysis,(1)in terms of improving the degree of nerve function defect, the order of Chinese patent medicines was conventional Western medicine combined with Xiaoyukang Capsules>combined with Tongxinluo Capsules>combined with Naoxuekang Oral Liquid>combined with Naoxueshu Oral Liquid>combined with Angong Niuhuang Pills>conventional Western medicine;(2)in terms of reducing the amount of residual cerebral hematoma, the order of Chinese patent medicines was conventional Western medicine combined with Naoxueshu Oral Liquid>combined Xiaoyukang Capsules>combined Naoxuekang Oral Liquid>conventional Western medicine;(3)in terms of improving ability of daily living, the order of Chinese patent medicines was conventional Western medicine combined with Shenzhi Huoxue Capsules>combined with Angong Niuhuang Pills>combined with Naoxueshu Oral Liquid>conventional Western medicine;(4)in terms of improving total effective rate, the order of Chinese patent medicines was conventional Western medicine combined with Naoxueshu Oral Liquid>combined with Xiaoyukang Capsules>combined with Angong Niuhuang Pills=combined with Naoxuekang Oral Liquid>combined Tongxinluo Capsules>conventional Western medicine treatment. The results showed that in addition to conventional Western medicine therapy, the combined use with Chinese patent medicine can improve the clinical efficacy in the treatment of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage. However, due to the differences in the number and quality of various Chinese patent medicines included in the studies, and the lack of direct comparison of Chinese patent medicines, the ranking results still need to be verified by multi center, large-sample-size randomized double-blind trials in the future, so as to provide more reliable evidence support for clinical drug use.

Outcome indicators in randomized controlled trials on traditional Chinese medicine intervention for tension-type headache in recent five years / 中国中药杂志

To evaluate the application of outcome indicators in randomized controlled trials(RCTs) concerning the treatment of tension-type headache(TTH) with traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in recent five years, so as to provide a basis for the study of core outcome set(COS) for TCM intervention in TTH. The RCTs on TCM treatment of TTH in recent five years were systematically retrieved from CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, CBM, EMbase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov and China Clinical Trial Registry. After literature screening, data extraction and evaluation of the risk of bias, the outcome indicators in the included RCTs were subjected to qualitative analysis. The preliminary search yielded 19 042 articles, and 10 983 were left after the elimination of duplication. Finally, 52 RCTs(48 in Chinese and 4 in English) were included for qualitative analysis. The outcome indicators of RCTs included in this study were classified into seven domains: TCM syndrome, symptom and sign, physical and chemical detection, quality of life, long-term prognosis, economic evaluation, and safety event. The findings demonstrated that headache characteristic index in the symptom and sign domain was the index with the highest reporting frequency and reporting rate. Seventeen RCTs used TCM syndrome score as the outcome indicator. Further analysis revealed that there existed such problems in research design as non-distinction between primary and secondary outcome indicators, great difference in the adopted measurement tools for outcome indicators, and the neglect of measurement time of outcome indicators. Moreover, the syndrome indicators reflecting TCM advantages, objective evaluation indicators, safety and health-economic indicators were lacking. These limitations have affected the quality and reliability of RCTs on TTH treatment with TCM. It is suggested that the efficacy and characteristics of TCM should be combined into current clinical research, and the COS in RCTs regarding TCM treatment of TTH should be established according to internationally recognized standard procedures.

Systematic review and Meta-analysis of efficacy and safety of gastrodin in treatment of tension-type headache / 中国中药杂志

The efficacy of gastrodin as a Chinese herbal medicine extract in the treatment of tension-type headache has been confirmed. This paper systematically reviewed the efficacy and safety of gastrodin in the treatment of tension-type headache, aiming to provide a new choice for the treatment of this disease. In this study, four Chinese databases, four English databases and two trial registries were searched from the date of establishment to September 2020. The related randomized controlled trials(RCTs) were screened out according to the predetermined criteria. The bias risk assessment tool developed by Cochrane collaboration was used to evaluate the quality of the reports. RevMan 5.4.1 was used for Meta-analysis, and GRADE system for the evidence-based evaluation on the quality of outcome indicators. A total of 177 articles were retrieved and 8 articles were finally included for analysis, with a total sample size of 1 091 cases, which included 565 cases in the treatment group and 526 cases in the control group. The overall quality of included stu-dies was not high. The results of Meta-analysis are as follows:(1)In terms of headache frequency, gastrodin group was better than wes-tern medicine group(MD=-2.90, 95%CI[-3.76,-2.03], P<0.000 01).(2)In terms of number of abnormal blood vessels in TCD, gastrodin group was better than western medicine group(MD=-88.96, 95%CI[-102.36,-75.55], P<0.000 01).(3)In terms of effective rate, gastrodin group was better than western medicine group(RR=1.47, 95%CI[1.29, 1.68], P<0.000 01). The results of subgroup analysis are as follows:(1)Effective rate based on age, for the patients upper age limit 40-46 years old, gastro-din group was better than western medicine group(RR=1.69, 95%CI[1.50, 1.90], P<0.000 01); for the patients upper age limit 55-60 years old, gastrodin group was better than western medicine group(RR=1.27, 95%CI[1.16, 1.38], P<0.000 01).(2)Effective rate based on dosage form, both the gastrodin capsules and injection groups were better than western medicine group(RR_(capsules)=1.42, 95%CI[1.08, 1.88], P=0.01; RR_(injection)=1.50, 95%CI[1.26, 1.77], P<0.000 01). GRADE evaluation showed that the above outcomes had low quality of evidence. Only one article detailed the occurrence of adverse reactions and thus the present study cannot make a positive conclusion on the safety of gastrodin in the treatment of tension-type headache. The small number and low quality of the included reports affected the reliability of the results. In the future, more high-quality randomized controlled trails are needed to improve the evaluation on the efficacy and safety of gastrodin in the treatment of tension-type headache.

Systematic review and Meta-analysis of efficacy and safety of Toutongning Capsules in treatment of tension-type headache / 中国中药杂志

This study aims to systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Toutongning Capsules in the treatment of tension-type headache(TTH), so as to provide a corresponding basis for clinical treatment. Eight commonly used medical research databases and two clinical trial registration systems were retrieved with the time interval from the establishment of the database or system to November 2020. The randomized controlled trials of Toutongning Capsules in the treatment of TTH were screened out according to the pre-set criteria. The quality of the included papers was evaluated by the bias risk assessment tool in Cochrane Reviewers Handbook 6.1 and the data were statistically analyzed by RevMan v5.4 provided by Cochrane collaboration. A total of 13 studies were included and the quality of methodology was generally low. Meta-analysis showed that Toutongning Capsules assisted with western medicine therapy can effectively reduce the pain intensity(MD_(VAS)=-1.94,95%CI[-2.50,-1.38],P<0.000 01;MD_(NRS)=-0.83,95%CI[-0.86,-0.80],P<0.000 01), headache duration(SMD=-0.98,95%CI[-1.17,-0.79],P<0.000 01), headache frequency(MD=-1.01,95%CI[-1.16,-0.85],P<0.000 01), headache index(MD=-11.13,95%CI[-12.10,-10.16],P<0.000 01), anxiety and depression scale score(MD_(HAMA)=-4.02,95%CI[-6.58,-1.46],P=0.002;MD_(HAMD)=-2.67,95%CI[-4.04,-1.29],P=0.000 1), while Toutongning Capsules as monotherapy only reduced the headache score(MD=-2.24,95%CI[-2.97,-1.51],P<0.000 01). The available clinical studies demonstrate that Toutongning Capsules combined with western medicine in the treatment of TTH can improve the related outcome indicators, but the clinical safety and efficacy of Toutongning Capsules alone remain unclear. Due to the small number and low quality of the included studies, large-sample, multi-center, high-quality and strictly designed randomized controlled trials are still needed to verify the clinical efficacy in the future.