Total glucosides of paeony can affect hepatic dysfunction of patients with moderate or severe liver damage caused by methotrexate and leflunomide in rheumatoid arthritis patients / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of total glucosides of paeony(TGP) on hepatic dysfunction caused by Methotrexate (MTX) and Leflunomide (LEF) in patients with moderate or severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods From July 2010 to February 2011,204 cases with definite-diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis were included in three hospitals in Anhui province.All these patients suffered from moderate or severe rheumatoid arthritis and they were divided randomly into two groups,the therapeutic groups were treated with TGP combined with MTX and LEF and the control group were treated without TGP.The incidence of hepatic dysfunction was observed.Statistical anylysis was carried out by using t test and x2 test.Results One hundred and ninty-four patients had completed observation for at least 12 weeks.In the therapeutic group,only 10 of 105 patients had hepatic dysfunction compared to 31 of 89 patients in the control group.The incidence of hepatic dysfunction of the therapeutic group was significantly lower than the control group.After 12 weeks treatment with TGP,the effective respohse rates of the therapeutic group was 81.9％,which was higher than 74.6％ in the control group.The good response rate in the therapeutic group was 21.6％,which was better than 11.7％ in the control group.Although the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant,we could observed the tendency of increasing in effectiveness and the good response rate in the therapeutic group when compared with the control group.Conclusion TGP can decrease the incidence of hepatic dysfunction during the treatment with MTX and LEF,and it may improve the therapeutic effecacy of patients with RA.