A Clinical And Safety Study On The Xiangcao Mixture For Pediatric Mesenteric Lymphadenitis

Objective:In seeking for effective herbal therapies for pediatric mesenteric lymphadenitis(gastrointestinal heat accumulation type), this paper discussed the effectingmechanism of the Xiangcao mixture on pediatric mesenteric lymphadenitis(gastrointestinal heat accumulation type) based on systematic observations and studieson its therapeutic effects and made a preliminary evaluation on its safety through anacute toxicity test.Methodology:40clinical cases with a one-week (7days) Xiangcao mixture for pediatricmesenteric lymphadenitis were studied. The overall therapeutic effect of the treatmentwas evaluated based on comparative analysis on the symptoms, signs and quantitativescores as well as the number and size of mesenteric lymph nodes suggested by ColorDoppler Ultrasonography results before and after the treatment. An acute toxicitytest was conducted to calculate the LD50; then, the maximum tolerance dose for permouse per day was calculated by the maximum tolerated dose method.Results:Xiangcao mixture can effectively alleviate and eliminate celialgia, anorexia andother symptoms caused by pediatric mesenteric lymphadenitis. The effective rate was97.5%and there was a significant difference between the total score before thetreatment and that after the treatment (P<0.01). And the patient were not found obviousskin allergy and gastrointestinal symptoms and other adverse reactions during treatment.Therefore, the treatment efficacy was confirmed. The Color Doppler Ultrasonographysuggested the reduction in the number or size of the mesenteric lymph nodes and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). The acute toxicity experiment did notobtain LD50, so the maximum tolerance dose of herbal mixture should be320g (crude)/kg for per mice per day, which is equivalent to171times of that of the clinicalrecommendation for adults. This indicates the herbal mixture treatment is safe forclinical use.Conclusion:The clinical study and the acute toxicity test proved that the herb mixturetreatment is an effective therapy for pediatric mesenteric lymphadenitis(gastrointestinal heat accumulation type). In addition, no toxicity and side effectswere found. Therefore, herbal mixture treatment is safe and reliable and should berecommended for clinical use.