KangFuXin Liquid in the Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

• Published in: Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine Vol. 2019; no. 2019; pp. 1 - 10
• Main Authors: Que, Hua Fa, Wang, Xuan Yu, Hu, Xiao Jie, Liang, Yue, Li, Yang, Qu, Ke Shen, Chen, Xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2019; Hindawi; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Amputation; Analysis; Antibiotics; Bias; Chinese medicine; Clinical trials; Complications; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes therapy; Diabetic foot; Drug therapy; Evidence, Expert; Feet; Flow velocity; Foot diseases; Gangrene; Health aspects; Insulin; Intervention; Leg ulcers; Meta-analysis; Review; Systematic review; Wound healing; China
• ISSN: 1741-427X; 1741-4288
• DOI: 10.1155/2019/3678714

Background. Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus, with the wound not healing as expected and healing slowly. Poor control can develop into gangrene and even amputation. Currently, the existing treatments are not satisfactory enough. In China, KangFuXin liquid (KFXL) has been clinically used to treat DFU and has shown good clinical efficacy. In order to provide more reference to clinicians and experts, evidence of efficacy for it needs to be further rigorously evaluated. Methods. Eight electronic databases were searched to identify eligible randomized clinical trials (RCTs) published from construction of the library to April 2019. There is no language or data restriction; 11 trials involving 889 participants met the inclusion criteria. These RCTs compared the total effective rate, cure rate, cure time, and adverse events associated with KFXL. The Cochrane Handbook guidelines were used to assess the risk of bias and to evaluate the methodological quality of eligible studies. The methodological quality of included studies was generally low. Dichotomous and continuous data were presented using risk ratios (RRs) and mean differences (MDs), respectively. Results. Compared with the basic treatment, meta-analyses showed that KFXL combined with basic treatment can improve the total effective rate (RR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.23–1.54; P<0.00001; fixed effect model: I2 = 32%) and cure rate (RR = 1.67; 95% CI = 1.17–2.38; P=0.005; random effect model: I2 = 65%), and shorten the healing time (MD = −5.73; 95% CI = −6.95 to −4.52; P<0.00001; random effect model). Moreover, under the same basic treatment, KFXL had a better effect than external use of pharmaceutical medications (RR = 1.95; 95% CI = 1.30–2.93; P=0.001), but the cure rate was not significantly different. Also, KFXL had nothing to do with adverse reactions. Conclusion. The evidence confirms that KFXL is an effective treatment for DFU. However, further large-scale, rigorously designed trials and high-quality studies are needed to confirm the role of KFXL in the treatment of DFU.