RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Although ancient physicians had rich discussions on rheumatoid arthritis, few have discussed based on the theory of collaterals diseases. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the drug treatment classification, etiology analysis, and “collateral-interest accumulation.” METHODS: CNKI, El, SCI, and ISTP databases were searched for articles published after 1900. The keywords were “The bone erosion of rheumatoid arthritis, TCM collaterals theory.” Data from more than 10 domestic and foreign articles were selected to analyze the drug treatment classification, etiology analysis, and “collateral-interest accumulation.” RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) One of the causes of rheumatoid arthritis bone disease is the collaterals disease of traditional Chinese medicine. The development of intractable diseases should follow the law of the development of diseases from the meridians to the collaterals, from the gas to the blood, and from the functional lesions to the organic diseases. (2) The pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis lies in the accumulation of collaterals, which causes joint swelling, joint deformity and damage. (3) The treatment of “collaterals for the use of circulation” for rheumatoid arthritis is to keep the collaterals, organs and blood-gas in fluent, thus ensuring the fluent circulation to alleviate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.