• Yu-Shuo Zhu, Yun-Lun Li, Jian-Qing Ju, Feng Du, Yan-Ping Zang, Xiao-Bing Wang, and Jie Sheng.
• Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinical Research Base for Hypertension, Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 42, Wenhua Xi Road, Jinan, Shandong 250011, China; Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong 250355, China.
• Evid Based Compl Alt. 2016 Jan 1; 2016: 1819794.

AbstractDilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the main causes of heart failure and could increase death, hospitalization, and rehospitalization rate. The effect of conventional medicine treatment (CMT) is limited; meanwhile, the combination of CMT and Oral Chinese Herbal Medicine (OCHM) represents exciting adjunctive therapies. In this study, we ascertained the therapeutic effect of OCHM in combination with CMT for dilated cardiomyopathy by using meta-analysis methods for controlled clinical trials. We searched studies from five databases and extracted data from these studies. We also assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. We evaluated the following outcome measures to estimate the prognosis in patients with DCM: left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), stroke volume (SV), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), 6-minute walk test (6MWT), and overall efficacy. The result showed that OCHM combined with CMT for the improvement of therapeutic effect in DCM patients. However, the evidence remains weak due to the small sample size, high clinical heterogeneity, and poor methodological quality of the included trials. Further, large sample size and well-designed trials are needed.

10 keywords...

hide…