ABSTRACT
As for the clinical condition to be called “cold stagnating in the liver vessel” (寒滞肝脈kantaikanmyaku),cold invades a liver-meridian (肝経絡) and causes pain. We report a case of 7-year-old boy that reached the difficulty in walking for agreed pain of lower extremities in a liver-meridian by cold house environment after the diarrhea. There was no abnormality in a blood test and the MR imaging in Western medicine. The treatment principle was to warm the meridian and reduce the pain. We chose the infusion of “dankanzen-based prescription” (暖肝煎加味方) to warm the meridian and to remove the pain. The symptom improved. And the bathing therapy to warm a body relieved pain too. The case report of children of kantaikanmyaku was not found as far as we examined it. However, we believe that such cases are latent in Japan where air conditioners are widely used.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To examine the efficacy and safety of bathing therapy with Taohong Siwu Decoction (, TSD) in the treatment of early-stage, mild-moderate diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This randomized, placebo-controlled trial enrolled 148 men and women (18-60 years) with dcSSc (disease duration 12 months) and baseline modified Rodnan skin score (MRSS) 10. Patients were randomized into a TSD group (71 cases bathing with TSD plus oral prednisone) or control group (71 cases bathing with placebo plus oral prednisone). Bathing (40 °C, 30 min) of the upper and lower limbs was carried out once daily for 12 consecutive weeks. The primary outcome measure was MRSS; secondary outcomes were Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) score, quality of life (QOL), physician visual analogue scale (VAS), patient VAS, percent predicted diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO), percent predicted forced vital capacity (FVC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) level and overall treatment effect.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The final analysis included 135 patients (control group, 68 cases; TSD group, 67 cases). Primary and secondary outcome measures after 2 weeks of treatment showed no improvement (versus baseline) in both groups, with no differences between groups. At 12 weeks, QOL, physician VAS, patient VAS, ESR and CRP were improved in both groups, but MRSS and RP score were improved only in the TSD group (all P<0.05). MRSS, RP score, QOL, physician VAS, patient VAS, ESR and CRP differed significantly between groups (all P<0.05). Meanwhile, the overall treatment effect was significantly higher in the TSD group than in the control group (P<0.05). Adverse events in the two groups were similar (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Bathing with TSD plus oral prednisone achieves better outcomes than oral prednisone alone in patients with dcSSc and is not associated with serious adverse events.</p>