The journal of alternative and complementary medicine : research on paradigm, practice, and policy
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J Altern Complement Med · May 2019
Meta AnalysisClinical Evaluation of Javanica Oil Emulsion Injection Combined with the Radiotherapy in the Treatment of Esophageal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Objectives: This meta-analysis aimed to assess the clinical effectiveness and safety of Javanica oil emulsion injection (JOEI) combined with the radiotherapy (RT) for treating esophageal cancer (EC). Design: A literature search was conducted for collecting the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on EC treated by JOEI in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (SinoMed), the China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, the China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), and the Wanfang Database from inception to February 4, 2017. The quality of the RCTs was evaluated by the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool, and objective remission rate, performance status, adverse drug reactions (ADRs), 1-year survival rate, and 2-year survival rate were analyzed by Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 13.0 software. ⋯ Specifically, the statistically significant difference was detected between these two groups about leukopenia (RR = 0.39, 95% CI [0.25-0.61], Z = 4.19, p < 0.0001), radiation esophagitis (RR = 0.68, 95% CI [0.50-0.93], Z = 2.42, p = 0.02), thrombocytopenia (RR = 0.92, 95% CI [0.12-0.66], Z = 2.95, p = 0.003), and hemoglobin reduction (RR = 0.53, 95% CI [0.35-0.79], Z = 3.14, p = 0.002); however, there was no statistically significant difference for the outcome of nausea and vomiting (RR = 0.61, 95% CI [0.36-1.03], Z = 1.85, p = 0.06) between two groups. Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicated that the combination of JOEI and RT was associated with the more beneficial treatment for patients with EC compared with only receiving RT. However, more well-designed and multicenter RCTs should be carried out to confirm this finding because of the limitations of enrolled 11 RCTs.
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J Altern Complement Med · May 2019
Meta AnalysisAcupuncture for Primary Insomnia: An Updated Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Introduction: Acupuncture as one of the alternative therapies for insomnia is widely used in Asia and increasingly employed in western countries. Objectives: To provide updated evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for primary insomnia. Methods: A comprehensive literature search in 11 databases was conducted from January 2008 to October 2017. ⋯ Conclusions: The summary estimates indicate that acupuncture might result in improvement than no treatment on PSQI scores and appears safe. However, the quality of the evidence is varied from very low to low due to the potential risk of bias and inconsistency among included trials. Further large sample size and rigorously designed RCTs are still needed.