RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of combination treatment with Chaihu Droplet pill (CHDP) and Huoxiang Zhengqi Droplet pill (HZDP) in treating severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in early stage.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-two patients of SARS were randomly selected and paired according to such controlling factors as age, sex and profession into 11 couples. To them all symptomatic treatment was applied, combined CHDP and HZDP (CH-HZ) was given additionally to one of each couple randomly. The treatment was lasted for 13 days to investigate the changes of the clinical indexes such as creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydogenase (LDH) and serum sodium levels.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Early applying of CH-HZ treatment showed good effects in improving CK, LDH, oxygenation index and absolute value of neutrophils, and could reduce the daily maximal dosage of glucocorticoid needed for SARS patients.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Early application of CH-HZ treatment in treating SARS could alleviate the injury in lung of SARS patients and the neutrophil dependent inflammatory reaction, and reduce the dosage of glucocorticoid used.</p>