Orally administered Chinese herbal therapy to assist post-surgical recovery for chronic rhinosinusitis—A systematic review and meta-analysis
Cui J, Lin W, May BH, Luo Q, Worsnop C, Zhang AL, Guo X, Lu C, Li Y, Xue CC · PLOS One · 2023 October 05
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0292138
Objective
To investigate the effectiveness and safety of orally administered Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) as adjuncts to post-surgical management in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), aiming to inform clinicians of current evidence, identify the best available evidence, and suggest directions for further research.
Conclusions
To investigate the effectiveness and safety of orally administered Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) as adjuncts to post-surgical management in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), aiming to inform clinicians of current evidence, identify the best available evidence, and suggest directions for further research.
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Insights
Oral Chinese herbal medicines appear to enhance recovery when used as supplements to conventional treatment after sinus surgery.
This study systematically reviews and conducts a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials, gathered from a wide range of nine databases and clinical trial registries, to evaluate the impact of orally administered Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) on the post-surgical management of chronic rhinosinusitis. The participants across these trials included adults and children diagnosed with sinusitis or rhinosinusitis, who had undergone surgery. The added interventions were orally consumed CHMs post-surgery in tandem with traditional post-surgery management. The control groups received only the conventional management without CHMs.
The results from a variety of measures including Sino-Nasal Outcome Test, visual analogue scales, various computed tomography scores, and mucociliary transport rates showed greater improvements in the group consuming oral CHMs in addition to the post-surgery treatment, versus the control. Particularly, enhancements were noticeable at follow-up stages after the end of treatment. However, the reporting of adverse events was incomplete across the trials. The study also found that the quality of the studies and their reporting varied, with many studies not being blinded and some results showing substantial heterogeneity.
