ArticleChinese medicine2012
Effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine in treating liver fibrosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Article in Chinese medicine, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Protective effects of Astragaloside IV on various liver diseases: From chemistry to herbal medicines (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Systems pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine in fibrosis: From multi-target mechanisms to translational validation.Chinese herbal medicines · 2026Review
- Efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicines for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a systematic literature review of randomized controlled trials.Chinese medicine · 2021Review
- Network Pharmacological Analysis and Experimental Validation of the Mechanisms of Action of Si-Ni-San Against Liver Fibrosis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Antifibrogenic Influence ofOxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2018Article
- Puerarin and betahistine treatment of vertebrobasilar ischemia vertigo: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2016Article
- Substitutes for Bear Bile for the Treatment of Liver Diseases: Research Progress and Future Perspective.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2016Review
- The Role of Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants in Liver Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2015Review
- Effects of Shenqi Neijin powder on activation and apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells in rats with hepatic fibrosis.International journal of clinical and experimental medicine · 2015Article
- ABCG5 gene responses to treadmill running with or without administration of Pistachio atlantica in female rats.Iranian journal of basic medical sciences · 2014Article
- Herb-herb combination for therapeutic enhancement and advancement: theory, practice and future perspectives.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2013Review
- Acupuncture in treating hepatic fibrosis: a review with recommendation for future studies.African journal of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines : AJTCAM · 2012Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe studies on the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) in treating liver fibrosis (LF) were not consistent. This study aims to systematically review the effectiveness of CHM on treating LF patients.
methodsDatabases including MEDLINE, AMED, EMBASE, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, TCMOnline, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and Chinese Medical Current Contents were searched up to March 2011. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving LF patients receiving CHM, Western medicine, combined CHM and Western medicine compared with placebo, Western medicine or no intervention were included. LF markers including serum hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), procollagen type III (PC-III), type IV collagen (IV-C), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP) were measured as primary outcomes. Liver biochemistry, including alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartarte aminotransferase (AST), and improvement of related clinical symptoms were measured as secondary outcomes. Risk of bias of allocation sequence, allocation concealment, blinding, incomplete outcome data, selective outcome reporting, and other biases were assessed.
resultsTwenty-three RCTs with 2123 participants were analyzed in subgroups of types of comparison and study quality. Fifteen studies were graded as good quality. CHM alone and combined with Western medicine showed significant improvements in HA, LN, PC-III and IV-C compared with Western medicine alone. However, there were no significant differences observed between CHM and placebo treatments.
conclusionThe current inconclusive results in determining the effectiveness of CHM treatment on LF, due to the poor methodological quality and high heterogeneity of the studies, suggests that large RCTs using standardized Chinese medicine syndrome diagnosis and CHM formulae with longer follow-up are required for further evaluation.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.