• Yuxin Leng, Han Li, Yu Bai, Qinggang Ge, and Gaiqi Yao.
• Department of Intensive Care Unit, Peking University Third Hospital, North Garden Road, No. 49, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191,. P.R. China. Electronic address: Lengyuxin1980@126.com.
• J Crit Care. 2016 Aug 1; 34: 24-9.

ObjectiveTraditional Chinese medicine (TCM) recently become a widely used treatment option for treating intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS). However, we still lack large-scale, high-quality, randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the existing clinical trials and to provide additional specific evidence.MethodsA systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of TCM for IAH/ACS was conducted. The following databases were searched to identify relevant studies: PubMed, Medline (Ovid SP), The Cochrane Library, China Biology Medicine Database, Wanfang Database, Chinese Periodical Database, Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, and China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database. Meta-analysis was performed using Rev. Man 5.3.ResultsFifteen studies involving 735 participants were included in the analysis. Compared to conventional therapy, TCM has a significant effect on reducing intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) [15 studies, 700 patients, standard mean difference (SMD)=-0.93, 95% credibility interval (CI): -1.35- -0.52], improving the APACHE II (five studies, 199 patients, SMD=-0.75, 95% CI: -1.30- -0.21), and shortening the length of hospitalization (LOH) (six studies, 214 patients, SMD=-1.21, 95% CI: -1.50- -0.91). The influence of mortality (six studies, 241 patients) was not significant [The pooled risk ratio (RR) was -0.07 (95% CI: -0.17- 0.03)].ConclusionsTCMs seem to be effective for patients with IAH and ACS; however, most of the reviewed trials are of poor quality. Large-scale, high-quality clinical trials are warranted.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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