The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Traditional Chinese Medicine and stroke recovery

    Researchers from China and Italy reviewed the evidence.

    First, the details.

    • Among more than 11,000 articles, 34 studies were included in the review.
    • All studies were conducted in China and published in Chinese journals.
    • Because of differences in how the studies were designed and conducted, the data were not pooled for a meta-analysis.

    And, the results.

    • All studies but 1 reported results in favor of complex Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments (containing more than 1 medicine/herbal).
    • There appeared to be strong publication bias.
    • None of the studies addressed important issues like death, survival time, dependency on others for care, reduction in length of stay in hospital, etc.
    • Most of the studies were inadequately designed, with unreported dropout rates and vague outcome measures.

    The bottom line?
    The authors concluded, “Scant data are available to evaluate efficacy of complex Traditional Chinese Medicine for poststroke motor dysfunction.”

    6/27/09 20:31 JR

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