Abstract

Background : Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common adverse effect in cancer patients who were exposed to chemotherapy. CIPN impacts on the quality of life and could delay chemotherapy. The aim of this review was to assess the therapeutic effectiveness of herbal medicine in CIPN patients. Methods : Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included in this review. We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane database, EMBASE, CNKI, Wanfang and four Korean databases without restrictions on time or language. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results : Eleven RCTs involving 706 patients met the inclusion criteria. Eleven different herbal medicines were examined in the included trials. Almost RCTs showed insufficiency in the reporting randomization method and allocation concealment. One trial used allocation concealment and a double-blinding method. Five studies reported that participants dropped out of RCTs and conducted an 'as-treated analysis'. One trials reported adverse effects of herbal medicine. In ten of the eleven trials, the use of herbal medicine had shown significant differences in clinical symptoms or nerve conduction velocity. Conclusions : The use of herbal medicines for CIPN showed significant improvements in the management of CIPN. However, conclusions cannot be drawn because of the generally low quality of methodology and low quantity of data for each single herbal medicine. Further rigorous trials are needed.