ABSTRACT
As one of classical prescriptions, Xitong Pill was first recorded in Shihong Mao's "Ji Shi Yang Sheng Ji" in the fifty-sixth year of Emperor Qianlong (1791), with the functions of clearing heat, eliminating dampness, dispelling wind and relieving pain, to treat wind-damp-heat arthralgia syndrome, which clinically contains gout, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases. Xitong Pill, as the Chinese Medicine prescription, is only consisted of two herbs, Siegesbeckia and Clerodendrum trichotomum, and widely used in clinic alone or combined with other classic prescriptions due to its precisely compatibility and significant curative effects. In this paper, herbological study and clinical application of Xitong Pill were reviewed, as well as research progresses of main chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of herbs in the formula, by analyzing ancient Chinese herbal medicine books and modern literatures, in order to provide a reference of Xitong Pill for clinical applications and further research on its pharmacological mechanisms.