Therapeutic efficacy of Chinese patent medicine containing pyrite for fractures: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Therapeutic Efficacy of Chinese Patent Medicine Containing Pyrite for Fractures: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background and Objectives: Korean and traditional Chinese medicine state that pyrite is effective for fracture treatment, but supporting clinical data are limited. This systematic review aimed to investigate the therapeutic role of Chinese patent medicine containing pyrite (CPMP) in clinical treatment for fractures. Materials and Methods: Seven electronic databases were searched using the keywords "pyrite", "pyritum", and "zirantong" between inception and December 2022, yielding 29 published clinical studies. Randomized controlled trials that included CPMP were considered eligible regardless of the fracture type. Quality assessment and meta-analysis of the included RCTs were also performed. Results: Most studies showed high heterogeneity (I2 > 50%) and significant results (p < 0.05). Compared to the results of the control group, CPMP was more effective in terms of the primary outcome related to the efficacy rate, including the total effective rate, callus growth rate, bone union, and edema disappearance time (all p < 0.00001) and in terms of secondary outcomes related to pain reduction, namely pain intensity and pain disappearance time, than the control group (both p < 0.01). CPMP was more effective than the control group in terms of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p < 0.01), hematocrit (p < 0.01), erythrocyte aggregation (p < 0.05), and plasma viscosity (p < 0.05). CPMP did not cause serious side effects, and the incidence of complications was significantly less than that in the control group. Conclusions: CPMP may be a safe and effective alternative treatment for fractures and may be beneficial in preventing postoperative complications, reducing pain, relieving symptoms, and accelerating healing.

External Treatment of Pyritum for Musculoskeletal Trauma: a protocol for systematic review

Objectives

Musculoskeletal trauma is a common type of injury that can result from damage to the muscular or skeletal system and has been recognized as a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. This study aims to analyze the efficacy of Pyritum external treatment for musculoskeletal trauma.

Methods

Randomized controlled trials evaluating the external treatment effect of Pyritum on various types of musculoskeletal traumatic injuries will be considered and identified in the searches of eight databases from their inception to Feb 2023. There will be no restrictions with respect to the publication status, language, or country. The experimental intervention group will be treated with external application of Pyritum alone or in combination with other therapies, and the comparator intervention group will include all types of control interventions. The primary outcome will be measured as treatment efficacy rate, and secondary outcomes will include pain reduction, pain disappearance time, swelling, joint function, and recovery period. Assessment of the methodological quality of this study will be concluded using the risk of bias assessment recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration. If there are sufficient numbers of studies per group in terms of specific rating scales to compare the treatment effects of Pyrium alone and combined external treatment groups, we will consider subgroup analysis.

Results

This systematic review will be conducted in compliance with the PRISMA-P statement.

Conclusion

We will conduct an extensive search on the proposed topic within the available literature and provide systematic evidence for the efficacy and safety of external application of Pyritum for all types of musculoskeletal trauma. The evidence generated will help design interventions for the external use of Pyritum for this patient group.