Jung-Woo Lee1, Won Bock Lee1, Woojin Kim1, Byung-Il Min2, HyangSook Lee3, Seung-Hun Cho4. 1. Department of East-West Medicine, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, South Korea. 2. Department of East-West Medicine, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, South Korea; Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, South Korea. 3. Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea. 4. Hospital of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, #1 Heogi-Dong, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul 130-701, South Korea. Electronic address: chosh@khmc.or.kr.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of traditional herbal medicine (THM) as an adjunctive therapy for cancer pain is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of THM as an adjunctive therapy for cancer pain using randomized controlled trials (RCTs). METHODS: Five electronic databases, including those from the UK and China, were systematically searched for the period before September 2013. All RCTs involving the use of THM in combination with conventional cancer therapy for cancer pain were included. RESULTS: Twenty-four RCTs involving 4889 patients with cancer pain were systematically reviewed. Among them, nine studies of 952 patients reported a significant decrease in the number of patients with cancer pain in the treatment group. Four studies of 1696 patients reported a significant decrease in the degree of pain in the treatment group. CONCLUSION: The results of these studies suggest that THM combined with conventional therapy is efficacious as an adjunctive therapy for patients with cancer pain. However, more research, including well-designed, rigorous, and larger clinical trials, are necessary to address these issues.
BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of traditional herbal medicine (THM) as an adjunctive therapy for cancer pain is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of THM as an adjunctive therapy for cancer pain using randomized controlled trials (RCTs). METHODS: Five electronic databases, including those from the UK and China, were systematically searched for the period before September 2013. All RCTs involving the use of THM in combination with conventional cancer therapy for cancer pain were included. RESULTS: Twenty-four RCTs involving 4889 patients with cancer pain were systematically reviewed. Among them, nine studies of 952 patients reported a significant decrease in the number of patients with cancer pain in the treatment group. Four studies of 1696 patients reported a significant decrease in the degree of pain in the treatment group. CONCLUSION: The results of these studies suggest that THM combined with conventional therapy is efficacious as an adjunctive therapy for patients with cancer pain. However, more research, including well-designed, rigorous, and larger clinical trials, are necessary to address these issues.
Authors: Germán Chamorro-Cevallos; María Angélica Mojica-Villegas; Yuliana García-Martínez; Salud Pérez-Gutiérrez; Eduardo Madrigal-Santillán; Nancy Vargas-Mendoza; José A Morales-González; José Melesio Cristóbal-Luna Journal: Plants (Basel) Date: 2022-06-24