The Treatment with Complementary and Alternative Traditional Chinese Medicine for Menstrual Disorders with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a frequent gynecological female endocrinopathy, characterized by chronic anovulation, hyperandrogenism, and insulin resistance (IR). Menstrual disorders are one of the main clinical manifestations of PCOS. Other symptoms include hirsutism and/acne. At present, the treatment of PCOS with irregular menstruation is mainly based on oral contraceptives, but there are some side effects and adverse reactions. In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), which has been widely used in clinical practice. Modern Western medicine is called “conventional medicine” or “orthodox medicine,” and the complementary and alternative medicine is called “unconventional medicine” or “unorthodox medicine.” CAM includes traditional medicine and folk therapy around the world. Around 65–80% of world health management business is classified into traditional medicine by the World Health Organization, which is used as alternative medicine in Western countries. In our country, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and other therapies are commonly used due to their significant efficacy and higher safety. Therefore, this review aims to summarize and evaluate the mechanisms and the effect of current complementary replacement therapy in the treatment of menstrual disorders caused by PCOS, so as to provide guidance for the following basic and clinical research.