Table 2.

Treatments used in the included studies.

Study	Conventional therapy of experimental group/control group				Topical treatment of control group	External application of experimental group	Suppliers of the externally applied TCM
	Surgical treatment	Endovenous surgical procedures	Compression therapy	Pharmacological treatment
Cao et al., 2005 [20]	NA	NA	NR	Antibiotics and nutritional support	Vaseline ointment	SheXiangZhenZhu ointment	The 306th Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army
Di, 2009 [14]	NA	NA	Compression bandages or hosiery	NR	Gentamicin	QiXing powder	Chengdu University of TCM
Fang et al., 2012 [26]	VLS	NA	Compression bandages or hosiery	Antibiotics if necessary	Alginate dressing	HuangDou paste	Hospital of Laiwu Iron and Steel Group Limited Company (Chinese Patent Number: ZL 200710115133.0)
Feng, 2009 [9]	NA	NA	NR	NR	Erythromycin ointment	KuiYangPing ointment	Liaoning University of TCM
Huang et al., 2009 [19]	NA	SEPS	NR	NR	NR	ShengJi ointment	The Second Affiliated Hospital of Heilongjiang University of TCM
Jia and Li, 2011 [10]	NA	NA	Compression bandages	NR	0.1% ethacridine lactate	ShengJiYuYang powder	TCM Hospital of Hebei Province
Jia, 2012 [15]	VLS	NA	NR	Antibiotics and nutritional support	Vaseline ointment + gentamicin	Moist exposed burn ointment (MEBO)	Shantou Meibao Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Li and Zhang, 2013 [11]	NA	EVLT	Compression bandages	Antibiotics and aspirin	NR	ShengJiYuHong ointment	TCM Hospital of HanDan city
Peng, 2014 [16]	NA	NA	Compression bandages	Danhong injection; elastic bandage	0.1% ethacridine lactate	0.1% ethacridine lactate + Chinese herbal powder	TCM Hospital of Hebei Province
Wang, 2013 [17]	NA	NA	IPC + Compression bandages	Salvia miltiorrhiza and ligustrazine injection	ethacridine lactate	Chinese herbs external washing	TCM Hospital of Hebei Province
Xu, 2009 [21]	NA	NA	NR	Antibiotics	NR	ShengJiYuHong ointment	TCM Hospital of Jiangsu Province
Xu, 2012 [22]	NA	NA	NR	NR	Ethacridine lactate	Chinese herbs external washing + HongYou ointment	Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of TCM
Zhang et al., 2007 [23]	NA	NA	Compression hosiery	Antibiotics if necessary and nutritional support	Vaseline ointment	FuFangSanHuang ointment	TCM Hospital of Shijiazhuang City
Zhang et al., 2008 [24]	VLS	NA	Compression hosiery	NR	NR	Chinese herbs external washing	People's Hospital of Yunnan Chuxiong
Zhang et al., 2008 [18]	NA	EVLT	Compression bandages	NR	Sensitive antibiotics	HongYou ointment	Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of TCM
Zhang, 2013 [25]	NA	NA	NR	NR	Metronidazole	KuiYang oil	Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine

NA, not available; NR, no report; TCM, traditional Chinese medicine; VLS, venous ligation and stripping; SEPS, subfascial endoscopic perforator vein surgery; EVLT, endovenous laser treatment; IPC, intermittent pneumatic compression.