Healing of Diabetic Foot Ulcer With Topical and Oral Administrations of Herbal Products: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials Publisher Pubmed

Summary: Herbs healing foot ulcers? A review of RCTs suggests olive oil dressing boosts healing scores in diabetic foot ulcers; other herbals promising—needs stronger trials for clinical use. #DiabeticFoot #HerbalMedicine

Zamanifard M¹ ; Nasiri M² ; Yarahmadi F³ ; Zonoori S³ ; Razani O⁴ ; Salajegheh Z⁵ ; Imanipour M⁶ ; Mohammadi SM⁷ ; Jomehzadeh N⁸ ; Asadi M⁹
Source: International Wound Journal Published:2024

Abstract

This systematic review aimed to qualitatively synthesize recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding the effect of topical application and oral intake of herbal products on the healing of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU). Also, we sought to pool the obtained findings in a meta-analysis using a random-effects model, if RCTs were relatively comparable and homogenous. A comprehensive search was performed on five electronic data sources from their inception through 23 January 2024. The RCTs, without restriction on the country of origin, were included if they compared the effect of administering standard treatments and/or placebo (i.e. control condition) to applying standard treatments and/or herbal products in topical or oral routes (i.e. experimental condition). Out of 1166 retrieved records, 28 RCTs were included. Studies used different poly and single herbal formulations. Based on the meta-analysis, administration of standard care plus daily dressing of the ulcer site with olive oil for 28 days significantly increased the total ulcer healing score (3 RCTs; weighted mean difference [WMD] = 89.30; p < 0.001), raised frequency of complete ulcer healing (2 RCTs; risk ratio [RR] = 12.44; p = 0.039) and declined ulcer degree (3 RCTs; WMD = −22.28; p = 0.002). Also, daily use of the bitter melon leaf extract in oral form for 28 days significantly increased the total ulcer healing score (2 RCTs; WMD = 0.40; p = 0.001). Additionally, based on qualitative synthesis, the adjuvant use of herbal agents seems an intriguing choice to manage DFU. Nonetheless, considering the undesirable methodological quality of most studies and the high heterogeneity in administered herbal formulations, more robust trials are required to build a solid conclusion regarding the use of herbal products for healing DFU. © 2024 The Authors. International Wound Journal published by Medicalhelplines.com Inc and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.