SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Dermatology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1651966
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Therapeutic Strategies for Managing Diabetic Foot Ulcers and Mitigating Associated ComplicationsView all 11 articles
Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Management of Diabetic Foot Ulcers: An Overview of Meta-Analyses
Provisionally accepted
- Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
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Background: The global rise in diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) complications necessitates more effective therapeutic strategies. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been increasingly explored as a potential adjunctive therapy for DFU management. This umbrella review synthesizes evidence from meta-analyses to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of TCM interventions. Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science was conducted through May 2025. Eligible meta-analyses were selected based on predefined criteria, and methodological quality was appraised using the AMSTAR 2 tool. Results: Eleven meta-analyses, encompassing 44 datasets and reporting pooled effect sizes for seven clinical outcomes, were included. The TCM interventions analyzed were both topical and oral. The findings revealed that TCM significantly improved DFU-related outcomes, including ulcer size reduction, shortened healing time (by up to 5.7 days in some trials), increased cure rates (up to a 43% relative improvement), and enhanced overall treatment effectiveness. Notably, longer intervention durations and larger sample sizes were associated with stronger positive effects. Conclusion: This review underscores the therapeutic potential of TCM, particularly topical formulations, in enhancing clinical outcomes and accelerating recovery in patients with diabetic foot ulcers.
Keywords: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Herbal therapy, Diabetic foot ulcer, UmbrellaReview, Chinese medcine
Received: 22 Jun 2025; Accepted: 28 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xiong, Liu and Wan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaocui Xiong, Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
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