Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine on coronavirus disease 2019 in 92 patients: a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the antipyretic effect of early treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 369 patients from January 26th, 2020 to April 15th, 2020, who had been diagnosed with COVID-19. Among 92 eligible cases, 45 cases were identified as treatment group Ⅰ ( 45) and 47 cases were identified as treatment group Ⅱ. Patients in the treatment group Ⅰ were treated with TCM herbal decoction within 5 d after admission. Patients in the treatment group Ⅱ were treated with TCM herbal decoction after the 6th admission day. The onset time of antipyretic effect, the antipyretic time, the time of negative oropharyngeal swab nucleic acid conversion, and the changes of cell count in blood routine test were compared. RESULTS: The treatment group I showed shorter average antipyretic duration (4 7 d; <0.05), and shorter average time for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) nucleic acid test results to turn negative (7 11 d; <0.05) than the treatment group II. For patients ( 54) with body temperature>38 ℃, patients in the treatment group I had shorter median onset time of antipyretic effect than those in the treatment group II (3 4 d; <0.05). The absolute lymphocyte (LYMPH) count and absolute eosinophil (EOS) count on the 3rd day after admission and the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio on the 6th day after admission of patients in the treatment group I were notably different from those in the treatment group II at the same time point (0.05). Based on Spearman's rank correlation analysis, the change of body temperature on the 3rd day after admission was positively correlated with the increase of EOS count and the increase of EOS count and LYMPH counts on the 6th day after admission (0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Early TCM intervention within 5 d after hospital admission shortened the onset time of antipyretic effect and fever duration of COVID-19 patients, reduced the time required for PCR test results to turn negative. Moreover, early TCM intervention also improved the results of inflammatory markers for COVID-19 patients. LYMPH and EOS counts can be used as indicators of TCM antipyretic effect.

Clinical study of kidney-invigorating and asthma-relieving granules in treating kidney deficiency type of bronchial asthma patients in persistent / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To evaluate the clinical efficacy of kidney-invigorating and asthma-relieving granules in treating kidney deficiency type of bronchial asthma patients in persistent.Methods:A total of 100 patients with bronchial asthma admitted to Shanghai Municipal Hospital of TCM from March 2020 to August 2020 were selected as the research subjects. The patients were divided into control group and treatment group by random and double blind method, 50 in each group. Both groups were treated by routine basic treatment. The control group was treated with Kidney-invigorating and asthma-relieving Placebo, while the observation group was treated with kidney-invigorating and asthma-relieving granules. All the treatment lasted for 6 weeks. The TCM syndromes scores, Asthma Control Test (ACT) scores, Peak expiratory flow/predicted value (PEF%) and eosinophil in peripheral blood before and after treatment were observed.Results:A total of 91 patients completed the clinical study. There were 45 patients in the control group and 46 in the treatment group. The total effective rate in the treatment group was 93.5% (43/46), while that in the control group was 77.8% (35/45), and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=4.579, P=0.032). After the treatment, the scores of integral efficacy on syndromes in Chinese medicine, ACT and PEF% in the treatment group were significantly higher than those in the control group ( t values were 2.802, 3.420 and 8.938, respectively, all Ps<0.01). The eosinophil in peripheral blood of patients in the treatment group was significantly lower than that of the control group ( t=3.481, P=0.001). Conclusion:On the basis of conventional treatment of western medicine, kidney-invigorating and asthma-relieving granules can relieve the clinical symptoms of asthma, improve the control level of asthma, enhance the level of PEF, reduce airway inflammation.

Clinical study of the Kechuansan acupoint plaster combined with acupoint injection of Chuankezhi in treating bronchial asthma / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To evaluate the clinical efficacy of the Kechuansan acupoint plaster combined with acupoint injection of Chuankezhi in treating bronchial asthma. Methods:A total of 65 patients with bronchial asthma, who met the inclusion criteria in Shanghai Municipal Hospital of TCM from June 2018 to September 2018, were selected anddivided into control group and observation group by random number table method, 32 in the control group and 33 in the observation group. The control group was treated with acupoint injection of Chuankezhi, while the observation group was treated with acupoint plaster of Kechuansan combined with acupoint injection of Chuankezhi. Both groups were treated for 6 weeks. TCM syndromes and frequency of acute attackin one year before and after the treatment was scored and recorded. The patients' quality of life was assessed by Asthma Control Test (ACT) and the fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) level was measured by Sunvou-p100 nakurun breath analyzer to evaluate the clinical efficacy. Results:Through out the treatment, there were 3 dropouts in the observation group and 2 dropouts in the control group. 30 cases were completed in each group. The total effective rate in the observation group was 93.3% (28/30), and the control group was 73.3% (22/30). The difference was statistically significant ( χ2=4.320, P=0.038). After the treatment, the scores of TCM syndromes and ACT in the observation groups were significantly higher than those of the control group ( t values were 4.834 and 5.642, respectively, all Ps<0.01). The FeNO in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group ( t=3.180, P=0.020). The frequency of acute attack in one year in the observation group was less than that ofthe control group ( t=5.466, P<0.01). Conclusions:Acupoint plaster Kechuansan combined with acupoint injection of Chuankezhi can relieve the clinical symptoms of asthma, reduce the frequency of asthma attack, improve the control ability of asthma, reduce airway inflammation, which is more effective than using acupoint injection therapy alone.

Effects of medicinal extract for tonifying kidney to relieve asthma on glucocorticoid receptor expression in lung tissues of rats with bronchial asthma / 中西医结合学报

Objective: To observe the effects of medicinal extract for tonifying kidney to relieve asthma on glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression in rats with asthma, and to explore its mechanism in treating asthma. Methods: Sixty SD rats were randomly divided into normal control group, untreated group, dexamethasone group, and medicinal extract-prevented, medicinal extract-treated, and medicinal extract-prevented and -treated groups, with ten rats in each group. Asthma was induced by intraperitoneal injection of ovalbumin (OVA) and forced inhalation of atomized OVA. Expression of GR in lung tissues was detected by immunohistochemical method. Pathological changes of the lung tissues were observed by HE straining. Results: Expression of GR was lower in the untreated group than in the normal control group (P0.05). Conclusion: Medicinal extract for tonifying kidney to relieve asthma can increase the expression of GR in lung tissues of asthmatic rats, which may be one of its mechanisms in preventing and treating asthma.

Discussion about treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome based on syndrome differentiation / 中西医结合学报

Severe acute respiratory syndrome is an infectious disease caused by a new type of coronavirus. It belongs to the seasonal febrile diseases in traditional Chinese medicine. The prevention and treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can be under the guidance of the doctrines for treating febrile diseases of traditional Chinese medicine, treatment based on syndrome differentiation, such as syndrome differentiation of triple energizer, syndrome differentiation according to defensive phase, qi phase, nutrient phase and blood phase. During April and May of 2003, 8 cases of SARS were diagnosed in Shanghai, and 6 patients accepted complementary therapy of traditional Chinese medicine, without death case. The only one patient who didn't take glucocorticoid therapy was complementarily treated with traditional Chinese herbs through the whole treating procedure. Upon the successful treatment of the eight cases of SARS in Shanghai, it is demonstrated that the triple-energizer syndrome differentiation and defensive-qi-nutrient-blood syndrome differentiation in traditional Chinese medicine are of high value in treating SARS patients.