Completed Clinical Trials in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine is a complex system which includes a lot of procedures for treatment and diagnosis of diseases and health issues that the patients have. It is used for treatment but also for diagnosis and prevention for more than 2200 years. The earlies written prove found about TCM is from the period of the 3rd century BCE. So far there have been a lot of theoretical theories for TCM that are giving the basics for today’s usage of it. During the past period a lot of Clinical Trials, clinical investigations and a lot of materials have been collected, so TCM can be considered as a medical intervention that can be beneficial for the patients. The WHO recommends acupuncture, which is part of the Traditional Chinese Medicine for treatment of more than 100 diagnosis, part of this more than 100 diagnoses are, Abdominal pain, bell’s palsy, cancer pain, insomnia, etc. The European union does not recognize TCM as a therapeutical method. From the European Union members, only Hungary accepts TCM as a therapeutical method and practitioners who have completed the 5 years of education in TCM can practice TCM. On the International Traditional Medicine Clinical Trial Registry (ITMCTR) which is an online register of clinical trials (research) being conducted in the field of traditional medicine. It is operated by China Center for Evidence Based Traditional Chinese Medicine, so far there are 4380 records for registered clinical trials and collected documents, from clinical trials that have goal to prove the efficacy of TCM in treatment and diagnosis of diseases and health issues of the patients. Reported are different clinical trials in which different practices used in Traditional Chinese Medicine have been tried. Acupuncture, Moxibustion, Herbal Medications, Cupping Therapy and Tui na massage.

Keywords: Clinical Trials, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, Moxibustion, Cupping, Tui Na, Herbal Mediations