Effectiveness of the Chinese Herbal Formula TongXieYaoFang for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review

Objective: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common problem, but treatment is unsatisfactory. Although Chinese herbal medicines have been tried, there are limited data to support their usage. The authors set out to systematically review the effectiveness of the Chinese herbal medicine TongXieYaoFang (TXYF) and TXYF with different Chinese herbal additions (TXYF-A) in the management of IBS in order to make evidence-based recommendations. Methods: The authors searched the literature to identify randomized trials of TXYF or TXYF-A for patients with IBS by using MEDLINE,® EMBASE, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR), the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Fields Specialized Register from 1966 to 2004, the CMB Disc database from January 1978 to December 1988, and the Full Text Chinese Journal database from January 1994 to December 2004. Standard forms regarding study design, treatment course, outcome measures, and adverse events were used to abstract data. Studies were assigned a quality score based on...