Effectiveness of Comprehensive Traditional Chinese Therapy in Treating Granulomatous Lobular Mastitis: a Systematic Review and a Meta-analysis

Abstract Background: With the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), comprehensive traditional Chinese therapy is often used to treat Granulomatous Lobular Mastitis (GLM), but the effectiveness and risk are still controversial. This study is aimed to evaluate the efficacy of comprehensive therapy of traditional Chinese medicine on GLM.Methods: Articles in both international databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Clinicaltrials.gov) and Chinese databases (Chinese National Knowledge Internet (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Databases (CBM), VIP Chinese periodical service platform and Wan Fang Digital Journals)) were searched. Original studies which reported the effective rate and/or recurrence rate and/or maximum diameter of the mass of comprehensive traditional Chinese therapy were included. The 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for effective rate, recurrence rate and maximum diameter of the mass were calculated and analyzed by review manager 5.3.Results: Eight eligible trials with 309 cases and 265 controls were included, six in Chinese and two in English. Statistical analysis suggested a statistical difference in effective rate (RR = 0.86, 95% CI [0.74, 1.00], P = 0.047) between comprehensive traditional Chinese therapy group and control. Meanwhile, there was statistical difference found in recurrence rate between comprehensive traditional Chinese therapy and western medicine therapy (RR = 3.09, 95% CI [1.50, 6.40], P = 0.002). Besides, no statistical difference existed in maximum diameter of the mass between the two therapies (RR = -5.25, 95% CI [-125.42, 114.93], P = 0.93).Conclusion: Although there was no significant difference in the reduction of breast mass size between comprehensive traditional Chinese therapy and western medicine alone, comprehensive traditional Chinese therapy demonstrated the efficacy in improving the effective rate and reducing the recurrence rate. For GLM patients, comprehensive traditional Chinese therapy could be a potential option.