Objective To evaluate the quality of reports on randomized controlled trials in treatment of irritable bowel syndrome（IBS） with Tong Xie Yao Fang（Important Formula for Painful Diarrhea）.Methods A systematic computerized literature search was carried out on main Chinese and English thesis.The information of those reports was extracted by a previously proved scale that evaluates the quality of TCM treatment reports.Quality of these studies was assessed according to the literature quality evaluation criteria issued by National Health Service（NHS） of the United Kingdom.Results Totally 46 reports were evaluated in the study.Of them

there were 29 reports using the international standard of diagnostic criteria of western medicine

while there were 8 reports with diagnostic standard of TCM syndromes adopted.Only 5 reports applied correctly the randomized controlled methods and 8 reports used correctly the statistical methods.Conclusion The overall quality of reports on randomized controlled trials of treatment with Tong Xie Yao Fang for IBS is low.It should be improved in randomization

therapeutic evaluation indices

and statistical methods

etc.