Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine With Liver-Soothing Function for Hyperplasia of Mammary Glands: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Hyperplasia of the mammary gland (HMG) is a proliferative condition triggered by an imbalance in endocrine hormones. Studies have revealed the potential role of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating endocrine disorders. TCM offers the advantages of multitarget regulation, significant therapeutic effects, and fewer side effects. TCM exhibits a liver-soothing function, improving clinical efficacy and relieving symptoms including hyperplasia and pain. Therefore, in this systematic review, we investigated the efficacy and safety of TCM with liver-soothing effects in alleviating HMG. Eight databases were searched to obtain randomised controlled trials on the use of 'TCM with the liver-soothing function' for 'hyperplasia of mammary glands.' The quality of collected studies was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool. Data were extracted from good-quality studies using RevMan. Stata 15.0 software was used for meta-analysis. In total, 24 studies with 2 584 patients were included in this investigation. Among them, 1 312 patients in the intervention group received TCM with liver-soothing function and 1 272 patients in the control group received conventional western medicine or other TCM. TCM with liver-soothing function outperformed the control group in terms of clinical efficacy. Furthermore, TCM with liver-soothing function significantly decreased HMG-associated adverse events, breast pain score, lump score, and other scores. Traditional Chinese medicine with liver-soothing properties can effectively improve clinical efficacy and prevent adverse reactions in patients with HMG. More rigorous randomised controlled trials are warranted in the future to provide more concrete evidence.