• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.29-43
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to review and evaluate the effectiveness of oriental medicine per oral for recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC). Methods: We searched articles from Korean journal databases including Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology, Korean studies Information Service Studies, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Cochrane Library, PubMed. Searched keywords were "재발성 칸디다성 외음질염", "recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis", "㚆发性外阴阴道假丝酵母菌病", "中藥". Results: 10 randomized controlled trials with 700 patients were identified and reviewed. 8 studies compared combination of oriental medicine and anti-fungal agent with anti-fungal agent, and 6 of them reported that treatment group (TG) showed statistically higher total effective rate or cure rate and lower recurrence rate. One study compared oriental medicine and anti-fungal agent and TG showed statistically higher total effective rate and lower recurrence rate after 1 month. One study compared combination of oriental medicine and lacto bacillus capsule with lacto bacillus capsule, and TG showed statistically higher total effective rate and lower positive fungul test rate after 6 months. No severe adverse response was reported. Conclusions: Our review found that oriental medicine per oral is effective for alleviating symptoms, lowering recurrence rate and positive fungal test in RVVC patients. We recommend standardized randomized controlled trial guideline should be made to obtain stronger evidence and well designed trials with larger sample sizes are needed.