A meta-analysis of catgut implantation at acupoint for acute ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of catgut implantation at acupoint for acute ulcerative colitis and its safety.Methods Reference to Medline, EMbase, Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, VIP and Articles database, two independent investigators extracted data according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, evaluated quality of included literature quality with criteria of the Cochrane Collaboration of randomized controlled trials, Meta analyzed the result by RevMan 5.2 software.Results Eight documents and 626 cases of patients were included. The clinical efficacy of Catgut Implantation group[RR=1.13,95%CI（1.05,1.20）] was better than the control group. Eight documents did not report complete remission rate, in which one reported recurrence rate, and the difference between Catgut Implantation group and control group was not statistically significant[RR=1.50, 95%CI（0.27,8.34）]. In the included documents, four didn’t show significant adverse reactions, three did not mention safety or adverse reactions, and two reported adverse reactions. In Catgut Implantation group, one had rejection, one got infection, one had halo pin, while one had halo pin and some patients experienced nausea, impaired liver function in control group.Conclusion Catgut Implantation on acute ulcerative colitis is better in terms of improving clinical efficacy. However, as the sample size is too small and drug safety is not clear, high-quality randomized controlled trials is still needed for further validation. Key words: Catgut implantation at acupoint Ulcerative colitis Systematic review