- 2026-06-08
- Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare 19
- Li-Jun Han
- Xiao-Wen Pan
- Jia Zhu
- Jia-Yu Qin
- Hui-Li He
- Hong Chen
- Di Wang
- Hui-Ren Zhuang
- Li-Li Ma
Study Design
- Type
- Review
- Sample size
- n = 15
- Population
- adult patients with acute pancreatitis
- Methods
- A systematic search across multiple electronic databases and guideline repositories; eligible evidence comprised clinical practice guidelines, expert consensus statements, and systematic reviews focusing on rhubarb administration
Purpose
Acute pancreatitis has complex causes, and traditional Chinese medicine plays a significant role in its treatment. However, there is a lack of standardized protocols and a comprehensive best evidence summary for rhubarb administration in acute pancreatitis, leading to inconsistent clinical practice. This study aimed to retrieve and summarize the best evidence on the administration of rhubarb in the treatment of acute pancreatitis and to provide a theoretical reference for the development of clinical practice.Methods
A systematic search was performed from database inception to 31 October, 2025 across multiple electronic databases and guideline repositories, including the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, China biomedical, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP. Eligible evidence comprised clinical practice guidelines, expert consensus statements, and systematic reviews focusing on rhubarb administration in adult patients with acute pancreatitis. The methodological quality of included studies was independently evaluated using the AGREE II, JBI, and AMSTAR 2.0 tools.Results
A total of 15 documents were included, including 3 clinical guidelines, 3 expert consensus, and 9 systematic evaluations. Twenty-seven pieces of evidence related to rhubarb administration in patients with acute pancreatitis were extracted and summarized into four themes: mechanism of action, feasibility, evaluation, and clinical implementation.Conclusion
Healthcare providers may apply the best evidence for rhubarb administration in acute pancreatitis to improve intestinal function recovery. However, recommendations should be interpreted cautiously, as all evidence comes from Chinese studies with limited generalizability and some low-level findings. This study is in accordance with the evidence summary reporting specifications of the Fudan University Center for the Evidence-based Nursing, and the registration number is "ES20246947".