Synergetic use of tripterygium wilfordii and aescine for treatment of posttraumatic acute lung injury / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of tripterygium wilfordii combined with aescine in treatment of acute lung injury (ALI) following trauma.Methods A total of 120 patients with posttraumatic ALI were divided into four groupstripterygium wilfordii + aescine group (combined group),tripterygium wilfordii group,aescine group,and control group according to random number table,with 30 patients per group.Regardless of the same conventional therapy,the patients in combined group were treated by orally or gastrically administered tripterygium wilfordii multiglycoside as well as aescine intravenously,once a day for 12 days; on the contrary,the same method but only with tripterygium wilfordii or aescine was respectively performed in tripterygium wilfordii and aescine groups.Blood gas analysis before and after treatment,length of ICU stay,fatality rate and incidence of ARDS in each group were observed.Changes in levels of inflammatory mediators (TNF-oα,IL-1,IL-6 IL-8,etc)were detected at days 4,8,and 12 after medication.Results Shorter length of ICU stay and lower ARDS incidence as well as 12-day fatality rate were detected in each treatment group as compared with control group,especially in combined group (P ＜ 0.05).Respiratory rate,PaO2 and oxygenation index (PaO2/FiO2) in each treatment group presented better amelioration than those in control group and especially better results were observed in combined group (P ＜ 0.05).Plasma levels of TNF-α,IL-1,IL-6,and IL-8 in each treatment group were lower than those in control group (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Tripterygium wilfordii and aescine havetherapeutic effect on posttraumatic ALI.Moreover,synergetic use of the two drugs achieves synergistic effect and better outcome.