Chinese Herbs promising for Endometriosis
posted in - CAM watch, - Palmdoc |MedPageToday reports
Chinese herbal medicine provided relief to symptoms of endometriosis that was equivalent or superior to conventional therapies following laparoscopic surgery, a systematic review indicated. Action Points
Explain to patients that Chinese herbal medicine appeared to relieve postsurgical endometriosis symptoms at least as well as conventional medical therapy.
The findings were based on a retrospective review of a large database and involved a small number of patients.Herbal medicine achieved symptom relief comparable to that of gestrinone but with fewer side effects, Andrew Flower, PhD, of Southampton University in Ringmer, England, and colleagues reported in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The pregnancy rate was similar with either treatment.
Compared with danazol, Chinese herbal medicine led to better postsurgical symptom control with fewer side effects.
“These findings suggest that Chinese herbs may be just as effective as certain conventional drug treatments for women suffering from endometriosis, but at present we don’t have enough evidence to generalize the results,” Dr. Flower said in a statement.
MedPage provides a free PDF copy of the Cochrane review. Here’s the summary of the main results:
Two Chinese RCTs involving 158 women were included in this review. Both these trials described adequate methodology. Neither trial compared CHM with placebo treatment.
There was no evidence of a significant difference in rates of symptomatic relief between CHM and gestrinone administered subsequent to laparoscopic surgery (95.65% versus 93.87%; risk ratio (RR) 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.93 to 1.12, one RCT). The intention-to-treat analysis also showed no significant difference between the groups (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.18). There was no significant difference between the CHM and gestrinone groups with regard to the total pregnancy rate (69.6% versus 59.1%; RR 1.18, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.59, one RCT).
CHM administered orally and then in conjunctionwith a herbal enema resulted in a greater proportion of women obtaining symptomatic relief than with danazol (RR 5.06, 95% CI 1.28 to 20.05; RR 5.63, 95% CI 1.47 to 21.54, respectively).
Overall, 100% of women in all the groups showed some improvement in their symptoms.
Oral plus enema administration of CHM showed a greater reduction in average dysmenorrhoea pain scores than did danazol (mean difference (MD) -2.90, 95% CI -4.55 to -1.25; P < 0.01).
Combined oral and enema administration of CHM showed a greater improvement, measured as the disappearance or shrinkage of adnexal masses, than with danazol (RR 1.70, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.78). For lumbosacral pain, rectal discomfort, or vaginal nodules tenderness, there was no significant difference either between CHM and danazol.
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