Clinical study on the treatment of knee osteoarthritis by wangbi tablet / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical efficacy of Wangbi Tablet (WT) on the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), and to study its treatment program by integrative medicine.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The randomized, parallel control, and multi-center clinical observation method was used. 160 KOA patients of Gan-Shen deficiency complicated with stasis-blood blockade syndrome were assigned to three groups. Group A (72 cases) was treated by WT, Group B (42 cases) was treated by Votalin Tablet, and Group C (46 cases) was treated by WT + Votalin Tablet. All patients were treated for two months. Before and after treatment the clinical symptoms, the knee function activity, adverse reactions were observed and recorded. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) of each patient were respectively detected, statistically analyzed and compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After eight weeks of treatment significant difference was shown in the time of morning stiffness in joints, joint tendemess, swelling, pain, joint functional activities, ESR, and CRP between Group A and Group B (P<0.01). Besides, better effects were obtained in Group C (P<0.01). Improvement of ESR and CRP: They were obviously improved in the three groups after treatment (P<0.01). As for the markedly effective rate, better effects were obtained in Group C (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>In the treatment of KOA, WT showed favorable effects with no obvious adverse reaction. The combination of WT and Voltaren Tablet was significantly superior to use of WT or Votalin Tablet alone. It could reduce the dosage of Voltaren Tablet and avoid adverse reactions of the gastrointestinal tract.</p>

Efficacy of integrative medicine for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and its effect on glucocorticoid receptor expression / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the efficacy and mechanism of Fengshikang (FSK) in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-eight patients with RA of damp-heat block syndrome type in Chinese medicine (CM), were randomized into two groups. They all received glucocorticoid therapy for 1 month, but FSK was administered to the 20 patients in the CM group in addition, while to the 18 in the WM group, MTX was given. Besides, a normal control group with 20 healthy subjects was set up. Blood levels of RA related indices were measured and compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After treatment, the levels of rheumatoid factor (RF) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were significantly reduced in both groups (P<0.05), but the reduction was more significant in the CM group (P<0.05). No significant change was found in the level of ESR after treatment and showed no significant difference between groups (P>0.05). Both hGRalpha mRNA and hGRbeta mRNA expressions were significantly higher in the patients than in the normal controls (P<0.01), they were lowered after treatment in the CM group (P<0.01), but significant reduction could only be found in level of hGRbeta mRNA in the control group (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>FSK combined with glucocorticoid can effectively control the inflammatory reaction, decrease the level of hGRalpha and hGRbeta expressions and enhance the clinical efficacy in treating RA.</p>