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

    Review: Moxibustion for ulcerative colitis

    Prof. Ernst and colleagues report, “Several studies have reported that moxibustion is effective in ulcerative colitis.”

    But, is that enough?

    First, the details.

    • 5 studies were included.
    • All were of low methodological quality.
    • They compared moxibustion to conventional drug therapy.
      • 3 tested moxibustion vs sulfasalazine (Azulfidine)
      • 2 compared moxibustion vs sulfasalazine plus other drugs.
    • Data were combined for a meta-analysis.

    And, the results.

    • The meta-analysis of 5 studies showed significantly favorable effects of moxibustion on treatment response compared to conventional drug therapy.

    The bottom line?

    The authors concluded, “Even though the trial data are unanimously positive, most of included trials had high risk of bias. More rigorous studies seem warranted.”

    More on the concept of bias in medical research and a discussion of study design and methodology is here.

    4/26/10 21:04 JR

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