The Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Threatened Abortion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract 
Background: Threatened abortion is a common complication during early pregnancy. Conventional managements for the miscarriage include bed rest, hormone therapy and muscle relaxants. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is also the popular option for the women. Evidence to support the efficacy and safety of TCM in treating threatened abortion is still limited.
Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Chinese medicine in the treatment of threatened abortion compared with the hormone therapy through a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Methods: The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were electronically retrieved in the database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan Fang Database (Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology), VIP Data and PubMed between January 1 2008 and December 1 2018 with the pre-designed search strategy. The outcomes included the clinical effectiveness, the clotting time of vaginal bleeding, pain reduction in lower abdomen, and incidences of adverse events. The software RevMan 5.1 was employed for the meta-analysis.
Results: Twenty-three studies were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis, which enrolled 2014 pregnant women (1006 in the treatment group and 1008 in the control). The meta-analysis of clinical effectiveness showed that TCM significantly decreased rate of miscarriage compared with the conventional therapy. In the subgroup analysis of miscarriage rate in women, oral administration of TCM was more effective than either the injected or oral administration of conventional medications. Further analysis showed that oral TCM was more effective than the injection of progesterone only or combined with hCG, even the oral progesterone.
Conclusions: The study indicated that TCM was likely more effective than conventional therapy in treating threatened abortion with unclear adverse events. However, due to the low quality of included studies, larger scales of RCTs and more scientific evidence are needed to prove the efficacy and safety of TCM for threatened abortion.

 Traditional Chinese Medicine for Threatened Abortion: https://medwinpublishers.com/OAJG/OAJG16000174.pdf

Association of Types of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer with Stage, Cytoreduction and Progression Free Survival Rate

Introduction: To assess the clinical impact of the Types of Epithelial ovarian tumour designated as Type I and II according to Immunohistochemistry and Histopathology to study the association of Types of EOC with stage, cytoreductability and progression free survival rate. Methods: This study was conducted in the Department of Gynaecological oncology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, Kerala, India in year 2017–2018 after obtaining the approval of the Institute Ethical Review Board committee. Patients were asked to sign an informed written consent after explaining the need for the procedure, their possible outcomes and the significance of the results. No new intervention was required in this study. All patients with Epithelial ovarian cancer that was surgically treated (Both Primary delbulking and interval debulking surgery) in the Dept. of Gynaecological Oncology were recruited in this study. Intraoperative mapping of pattern of distribution of disease was done and the patients were divided into 3 Groups. Group A (Pelvis, nodes), Group B (omentum, peritoneum, hemidiaphragm, surface liver), Group C (Mesentry, Porta hepatic, Lesser sac). If disease was found to be extensive (Fagotti>8/PCI>17) these patients underwent Neoadjuvant cheomotherapy with Paclitaxil and Carboplatin and then assessed for interval surgery. Residual disease was defined as R0-no residual macroscopic disease after surgery, R1-0.1- 0.5cm residual disease, R2-0.5-1cm, R3>1cm Stages are defined according to the FIGO classification WHO 2014 criteria (I–IV), stage I/II is considered early FIGO stage, and stage III/IV, where the tumor has spread beyond the pelvic region, as late FIGO stage. The categories of grade are well-differentiated (Grade 1) moderately differentiated (Grade 2), and poorly differentiated (Grade 3). Grade 1 is considered as low-grade tumors and Grades 2-3 as high-grade tumors. Histologic types were defined as serous adenocarcinoma, mucinous adenocarcinoma, endometrioid adenocarcinoma, clear cell neoplasms, carcinosarcoma, transitional/Brenner tumors, mixed tumors, or undifferentiated carcinomas along with their IHC markers (p53, WT 1, ER, Napsin) were obtained from their histopathology reports. All pathologic diagnoses were given by our dedicated Onco-pathologists. Kaplan-Meier and logistic/Cox-regression analyses were performed to assess the impact of histological type on surgical outcome and survival. Results: All EOC patients (n=101) reporting to our Dept. of Gynaecological oncology who underwent tumour debulking in our institution (09/2016–012/2018) were classified into one of two groups: type I tumours (n=36); composed of lowgrade serous, low-grade endometrioid, clear cell, mucinous and transitional carcinomas; and Type II tumours (n=65) composed of high-grade serous, high-grade endometrioid, undifferentiated and malignant mixed-mesodermal tumours. Primary debulking surgery rate (PDS) with complete cytoreduction (R0) was more in Type I EOC, with almost 91.2% vs 67.4% in Type II EOC showing clinically and statistical significance (p value.0.016). Also R1/R2 (R1-0.1-0.5cm residual disease, R2-0.5-1cm residual disease), was more in Type II compared to Type I showing borderline statistical significance (p value.0.566). According to the pattern of distribution, PDS and IDS was assessed in all the 3 Groups in Type I & II EOC. Type I had 94.4% PDS compared with 66.2% Type II in Group A (pelvis, nodes) showing clinically and statistical significance (p value 0.001.). In group B (omentum, peritoneum, hemidiphram, liver) Type I had 88.2% PDS vs 60% in type II showing clinically and statistical significance (p value 0.038). In group C (Porta, mesentry, lesser sac) Type I had 75% PDS vs 63.2% in type II showing clinically and statistical significance(p value 0.0676). According to the pattern of distribution, cytoreductability (R0/R1,2) was assessed in all the 3 Groups in type I & II EOC. Type I had 8.8% R1/2 compared with 32.6% Type II in Group A (pelvis, nodes) showing clinically and statistical significance (p value 0.016). In group B (omentum, peritoneum, hemidiphram, liver) Type I had 13.3% R1/2 vs 51.9% in type II showing clinically and statistical significance(p value 0.044). In group C (Porta, mesentry, lesser sac) Type I had 33.3%R1/2 vs 58.3% in type II, not showing statistical significance (p value 0.429). Conclusion: Type I EOC patients appear to present at earlier stages with younger age of presentation, their distribution in group B (Omentum, Peritoneum, Surface Liver, Hemidiaphragm) has a significant p value in relation to their cytoreductability (R0,R1/2). However, Progression free survival analysis an overall survival was not significant due to the short follow up interval.

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