Herbal traditional Chinese medicine and its evidence base in gastrointestinal disorders

Table 2 Clinical trials with herbal traditional Chinese medicine preparations for gastroesophageal reflux disease and esophagitis

Ref.	Patients	Intervention	Control	Outcome	Remarks
Zhang et al[52], 2012	186 pat.; GERD, no diagnostic criteria	64 pat.; 3 × 6 g Dalitong + 20 mg rabeprazole; 4 wk	61 pat.; 20 mg rabeprazole (control 1)	Intervention significantly better; unclear whether a comparison is within or between groups	No randomi-zation criteria → cohort study
			61 pat.; 3 × 10 mg domperidon + 20 mg rabeprazole (control 2); 4 wk
Li et al[53], 2011	120 pat.; non- erosive reflux disease, no diagnostic criteria	60 pat.; 3 × 10 g Tongjiang capsules; 4 wk	60 pat.; 3 × 5 mg mosapride citrate; 4 wk	For scores: in-tervention significantly better - only in PPP cal-culation; unclear whether a comparison is within or between groups	Relevant data were not available; ill defined scoring system. OR including 1 is significant
Xu et al[55], 2007	116 pat.; GERD	Integrated Chinese + Western medicine; no further data	Western medicine, no further data	Better long term significant effects, no significant short term effects	Inconsistent data presentation
Xu et al[56], 2006	78 pat.; laryngopharyn- gitis by GERD, ENT diag- nostic criteria	1 dose/d Banxia Xiexing Tang; 4 wk	2 × 6 g/d Linsang Liyan Wan, 4 wk	Variety of cumulative scores; treatment is more effective	No comparative treatment
Zhong et al[54], 2005	75 pat.; reflux esophagitis	45 pat; 1 dose/d Jiangni Hewei decoction; 8 wk	30 pat; omeprazole 20 mg/d, 8 wk	No difference in cure rate, total efficiency, symptoms, gastroscopy score. Significantly lower recurrence rate in verum group	Low patient number
Ghen et al[51], 2004	63 pat.; GERD, no diagnostic criteria	30 pat.; 2 × 100 mL ZhiZhu pills; 8 wk	33 pat.; 2 × 150 mg ranitidine + 2 × 10 mg cisapride; 8 wk	Unclear whether a comparison is within or between groups; “significant improvement in all criteria”	Conclusions cannot be reproduced
Hao et al[57], 1998	42 pat.; GERD, diagnosis by TCM criteria	42 pat.; Yunqitang I, II, III; 4 wk	No control therapy given	“Yunqitang is effective” by TCM scoring system

GERD: Gastroesophageal reflux disease; TCM: Traditional Chinese medicine.