Clinical Study Of Chinese Herbal Drugs (Qiangji-1) In Activite Anankylosing Spondylitis

Objective: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of Chinese Herbal Drugs (QiangJi-1) in patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS);To study activity of the disease with active ankylosing spondylitis after treament with QiangJi-1.Methords: Forty patients with active ankylosing spondylitis were randomly assigned to receive Chinese Herbal Drugs(QiangJi-1,150ml,two times a day) or SSZ (0.75g,three times a day) for 4 weeks. The scores of clinical Symptoms and Signs index(SSI),spinal pain VAS, BASDI.BASDI50, BAS-G, BASFI, BASMI were recorded before and after treaterment.Data of laboratory tests, including ESR, CRP, IgA,IgQ IgM,TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6,were obtained as baseline before clinical test and after 4 weeks of treatment, and analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis.Results: Treatment with QiangJi-1 showed better effect than SSZ.At the end of the 4th weeks, 11(58.9%) patients in the QiangJi-1 group reach BASDI50,as compared with 9(55%) in the SSZ group (P>0.05). The base-line values of various measures of disease activity, including SSI, BASDI, BAS-Q BASH, spinal pain, CRP, ESR, were significantly improved in the QiangJi-1 group and in the SSZ group except for CRP, ESR. Analysis of the data showed significant improvement in SSI, spinal pain, BASDI, BAS-Q BASH in the QiangJi-1 group.The spinal pain was reduced more in the SSZ group except for SSI. In both groups, there was not significant change of BASMI.The TNF-α, IL-1β and IgA of patients in both groups are abnormal before treated, and significant improvement was observed only in the QiangJi-lgroup.In the study, BASDI was found strongly correlate to the BAS-G (r = 0.721), pain (r = 0.432), function (BASH;r = 0.623), CRP(r =0.505), ESR(r =0.394),and BASH hasstrong correlations with the CRP(r =0.607) and ESR(r =0.602).Besides, the srong correlations were observed on the CRP with the ESR(r =0.796), on the TNF-cc with the CRP(r =0.313) and ESR(r =0.315),and on the IL-1 p with the CRP(r =0.382) and ESR(r =0.478). Conclusion: QiangJi-1 was showed superior effects in inhibiting activity of active ankylosing spondylitis compared with the SSZ group. Long-term studies are needed to determine whether such treament can modify disease outcome.Regular measurement of serum TNF-ct, IL-lp ,CRP and ESR may be useful in the assessment of pathology activity of ankylosing spondylitis.