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Planta Med 2010; 76(17): 2048-2064
DOI: 10.1055/s-0030-1250456
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Reviews
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Clinical Studies with Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Past Decade and Future Research and Development

Miao Jiang1 , Jing Yang1 , Chi Zhang1 , Baoyan Liu1 , Kelvin Chan2 , Hongxin Cao1 , Aiping Lu1
  • 1Disease and TCM Pattern Correlation Research Department, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
  • 2Herbal Medicine Research and Education Center, The University of Sydney, and CompleMED University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Further Information

Publication History

received February 19, 2010 revised Sept. 18, 2010

accepted Sept. 21, 2010

Publication Date:
26 October 2010 (online)

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Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is currently considered a complementary or alternative medical system in most Western countries and has been increasingly accepted worldwide. More and more clinical trials on TCM have been conducted internationally, and scientists worldwide are becoming increasingly interested in the evaluation of clinical efficacy of TCM based on clinical trials. This paper reviews the situation of clinical trials on TCM in the past decade, including systematic reviews about clinical trials either focusing on the treatment of disease with TCM approaches or focusing on one herbal product, conduction of clinical trials on TCM either with randomization and controlled methods or general observation. Some general issues on the conduct of clinical trials on TCM, such as randomization, control, quality of life (QOL), patient reported outcomes (PROs) and biomarkers, quality control, safety evaluation and case studies, are discussed, and accordingly some suggestions are proposed.

Key words

traditional Chinese medicine - clinical trials - systematic review

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Prof. Hongxin Cao, MD

TCM Clinical Research Department
China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

Beijing 100700

People's Republic of China

Phone: +86 10 64 01 44 11-22 05

Fax: +86 10 64 03 26 59

Email: caohongxin898@hotmail.com

Prof. Aiping Lu, MD

Disease and TCM Pattern Correlation Research Department
China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

Beijing 100700

People's Republic of China

Phone: +86 10 64 06 76 11

Fax: +86 10 84 03 28 81

Email: lap64067611@126.com

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