젖몸살의 한약 치료에 대한 중의학 임상연구 고찰

Review of Clinical Studies on Herbal Medicine Treatment for Lactational Mastitis in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to provide clinical evidence of herbal medicine for lactational mastitis by reviewing randomized controlled trials conducted in traditional Chinese Medicine. Methods: We searched literatures dated up to 9 October, 2017 in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and evaluated methodological quality of those studies using ‘Risk of Bias’ tool. Results: Eleven studies with 1,232 participants were selected for analysis. These studies indicated that the total effective rates were higher, and the time to lump reduction, the time needed for treatment, the duration of breast pain relief, and hospitalization period were significantly less in the herbal medicine treatment group, as compared to the control group. The most-commonly-used herbs were Taraxaci Herba (蒲公英), Angelicae Gigantis Radix (當歸), Trichosanthis Fructus (瓜蔞), Lonicerae Flos (金銀花), and Bupleuri Radix (柴胡). There were no serious adverse events found that were associated with herbal medicine treatment. The methodological quality of included studies was generally unclear or low. Conclusion: This study shows that the herbal medicine treatment may be effective in treating lactational mastitis. Further well-designed clinical trials with low methodological quality and appropriate assessment tools need to be performed to solidify these findings.