SynthesisIntegrative cancer therapies
Prevention and Treatment of Radiation-Induced Esophagitis With Oral Herbal Medicine: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Integrative cancer therapies. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Immune cell involvement in ulcer repair in radiation esophagitis and its role in the TGF-β1/p38MAPK/FN axis (Review).Molecular and clinical oncology · 2025Review
- Comment on "Prevention and Treatment of Radiation-Induced Esophagitis With Oral Herbal Medicine: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials".Integrative cancer therapiesArticle
- Letter to the Editor: Comment on Prevention and Treatment of Radiation-Induced Esophagitis With Oral Herbal Medicine: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Integrative cancer therapiesArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRadiation therapy is commonly used for the curative or palliative treatment of lung, esophageal, breast, or mediastinal tumors, with radiation-induced esophagitis (RIE) being a prevalent adverse event. Despite its high incidence, no cure has been identified for RIE, and validated treatment methods remain elusive. This systematic review explores global clinical research on herbal medicines for RIE treatment, assessing their efficacy in prevention and treatment.
methodsA comprehensive literature search across 5 databases targeted randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs). RCTs published before June 2024 were eligible if they investigated herbal medicine use for RIE prevention or treatment. Using Cochrane methodology and RevMan 5.4 software, a meta-analysis was conducted, and the certainty of evidence was evaluated with the GRADE system.
resultsFollowing the literature selection process, 81 RCTs with 7283 patients were included in the analysis. All studies administered herbal medicine to the treatment group and usual care with conventional medicine to the control group. Meta-analysis revealed that, in terms of overall incidence rate, herbal medicine demonstrated a significantly greater preventive effect compared to usual care (relative risk [RR]: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.65-0.78). Similarly, herbal medicine showed superior efficacy in improving RIE treatment outcomes compared to usual care (RR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.21-1.38). Herbal medicine exhibited a comparable safety profile with fewer gastrointestinal adverse events and no significant liver toxicity.
conclusionsHerbal medicine demonstrated significant benefits in reducing RIE incidence, delaying onset, alleviating symptoms, and shortening duration in patients undergoing radiation therapy for thoracic malignancies. However, due to limited certainty of the evidence, well-designed, large-scale RCTs are essential to establish the clinical effectiveness of herbal medicine for prevention and treatment, ensuring high-quality evidence for incidence rate and treatment effective rates.
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