A Review of Clinical Studies for Chinese Medicine Treatment of Idiopathic Edema Using the CNKI Database

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated the latest clinical studies on Korean medicine treatment of idiopathic edema in the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI).Methods: We searched the last 9 years of clinical studies discussing Oriental medicine-based treatments for idiopathic edema in the CNKI database. The search focused on the authors, publication year, type of study, purposes of study, method and duration of treatment, evaluation criteria, and results of the selected articles.Results: The search identified 7 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 9 others. All studies used oral herbal medicine for treatment. The most commonly used herbs were Poria Sclerotium (茯苓), Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (白朮), and Alismatis Rhizoma (澤瀉), which are the constituent herbs of Oryeong-san (五苓散). All 16 studies confirmed the efficacy of Oriental medicine treatments.Conclusion: More varied and scientifically designed clinical studies are required to develop treatments for idiopathic edema. The results of this study could be used as basic data for further studies on idiopathic edema.