Objective To review systematically whether there is enough existing evidence that methylcobalamin is effective and safe in the treatment of the patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.Methods A Cochrane systematic review of all relevant randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials of methycobalamin for diabetic peripheral neuropathy was performed. Clinical trials were searched from Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Issue 4, 2003), MEDLINE (January 1966 to January 2004), EMBASE (January 1980 to January 2004), the Chinese Biological Medicine Database (1978 to January 2004), the Chinese Science and Technology Journal Full-text Database (1989 to January 2004) and references of all included trials. The selection of studies, data extraction and assessment of methodological quality were performed independently by two reviewers. The following outcomes were assessed: effectiveness of clinical signs and symptoms, sensory nerve and motor nerve conduction velocities and serious adverse events of methylcobalamin. Results Thirty randomized clinical trials including 1 949 patients met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the most included trials was of low level. The "funnel plot" of the comparison of thirteen studies of methylcobalamin with other B Vitamins studies showed symmetry, which indicated less possible publication bias and the result was partly reliable, but it could not indicate the whole publication biases. The results of meta-analysis indicated that methylcobalamin showed significantly positive effects on the improvement of the signs and symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, and the effects were better than the other vitamin B agents. The increase of some nerves conduction velocities by methylcobalamin was better than by the other vitamin B. No serious adverse events were observed during the treatment period.Conclusions Methylcobalamin appears to be a safe and effective treatment on diabetic peripheral neuropathy. However, the evidence is not b because of the low quality of most trials. Rigorously designed, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trials of methylcobalamin for diabetic peripheral neuropathy are needed to further assess the effect.
Objective To systematically evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Puerarin on diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Methods A systematic review and evaluation of all available relevant randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials of Puerarin for diabetic peripheral neuropathy from Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (150 issue of 2003), Medline (1966-2003. 2), EMbase (1984-2001. 12. 4), and the Chinese Biological Medicine Database (1978-2003. 2) were performed. The selection of studies, data extraction, and assessment of methodological quality were performed independently by two reviewers. The following outcomes were assessed: effectiveness of clinical symptoms, sensory nerve and motor nerve conduction velocities, and severe adverse events of Puerarin. Results Ten randomized controlled clinical trials including 726 patients met the inclusion criteria. At the end of the treatment, compared to general treatment or vitamin B, Puerarin showed significant positive effects on the total effect rate of therapy and increased peripheral nerve conduction velocity. No severe adverse events were observed during the treatment period. However, most included trials show some degree of study design or analysis defect. Conclusions Our analysis suggests that Puerarin appears to be an effective and safe treatment for diabetic peripheral neuropathy. However, due to the low quality trials included in this review, more rigorously designed, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of Puerarin for diabetic peripheral neuropathy are needed to further assess its usefulness in diabetes peripheral neuropathy patients.