Chinese herbal medicine research in eczema treatment.
Abstract
Eczema is a chronic relapsing atopic dermatitis (AD) associated with pruritus, sleep disturbance and poor quality of life of the patient. Treatment of eczema includes use of emollient, topical and systemic antimicrobial agents, corticosteroid or immunomodulating agents. Many patients also seek alternative treatments such as dietary avoidance, supplementation or both. This article reviews the basic pathophysiology of eczema and clinical trials involving Chinese medicine in the treatment of eczema. Research reports on Chinese herbal medicine for eczema were retrieved from PubMed and the Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews for this review. Only a few RCTs demonstrated the efficacy (or lack of efficacy) of Chinese medicinal herbs in treating atopic eczema. Further larger scale trials are warranted.
Efficacy of a novel herbal multicomponent traditional Chinese medicine therapy approach in patients with atopic dermatitis.
CONCLUSION:
The present study confirms that the 3 newly developed herbal TCM combination preparations are clinically efficacious on AD, accomplishing a significant reduction in both clinical and pruritus scores as well as in eosinophil ratios and serum IgE levels
Evaluation of uraemic pruritus in long-term dialysis patients using a modified Chinese scale.
CONCLUSION:
The modified uraemic pruritus scale can discriminate between patients with a total pruritus score of ≥11 and those with a score of 0 points. The modified Chinese scale is a useful tool for clinically assessing the various degrees of itching among long-term dialysis patients. Our study validates that it could apply to clinical practice in assessment of uraemic pruritus.
