Clinical Observation On The Effect Of Rheumatoid Arthritis With Phlegm-stagnancy-syndrome Treated By Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) Prescription Of Phlegm-resolving And Collateral-unblocking

Purpose:To study the curative effects and possible mechanisms of rheumatoid arthritis(RA) patients with Phlegm-stagnancy-syndrome treated by Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) prescription of Phlegm-resolving and Collateral-unblocking.Subjects and Methods:61 cases of RA patients with Phlegm-stagnancy-syndrome were selected as the research subjects and were divided into two groups randomly.32 cases were selected as subjects treated by TCM prescription of Phlegm-resolving and Collateral-unblocking, and combined with conventional western medicine such as Methotrexate, salicylazosulfapyridine, and diclofenac sodium for three months.29 cases were selected as contrasts, treated only by conventional western medicine as above and their periods of treatment were the same.Before and after treatment, the changes of the patients' symptoms, physical signs and the levels of c-reactive protein(CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR) and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF), and the standards of ACR20,50,70, as well as the curative effects of syndrome of Traditional Chinese Medicine and total clinic effective rate were observed and were dealed with statistics analysis. The examination of blood routine, urine routine, fecal routine and liver function were taken as safety indices to determine whether the prescription of Phlegm-resolving and Collateral-unblocking having side effects and having the effect to reduce the side effects of western medicine.Results:1.The total effective rate of subjects(93.8%) was better than those of contrasts (82.8%),(P<0.05). The total curative effects of subjects(96.9%) was much better than those of contrasts(58.6%)(P>0.01).2.There was a significant difference in the level of serum VEGF of subjects between before and after the treatment(P<0.05), there was not a significant difference in the level of serum VEGF of contrasts between before and after the treatment(P> 0.05).3.After treating, there were significant differences in CRP,ESR,RF, the index of swelled joint and painful joint in both two groups(P<0.01). But the effects above of subjects were better than those of contrasts(P< 0.05).4.The side-effective rate of subjects(18.75%)was much lower than those of contrasts(48.28%),(P<0.01).Conclusions:1.It can further improve the clinical effects of RA patient with Phlegm-stagnancy-syndrome treated by TCM prescription of Phlegm-resolving and Collateral-unblocking combined with conventional western medicine, and also can relieve the RA clinical symptoms and physical signs and improve the quality of life.2.There is the effect of reducing the levels of serum VEGF of RA patients with Phlegm-stagnancy-syndrome treated by TCM prescription of Phlegm-resolving and Collateral-unblocking combined with conventional western medicin and which is better than those of patients treated only by conventional western medicine.3.It can improve remarkably the curative effects of TCM syndrome of RA patient with Phlegm-stagnancy-syndrome treated by TCM prescription of Phlegm-resolving and Collateral-unblocking combined with conventional western medicine and which is better than those of patients treated only by conventional western medicine.4.There is not obvious side effect in treating RA patient with Phlegm-stagnancy-syndrome using TCM prescription of Phlegm-resolving and Collateral-unblocking combined with conventional western medicine and TCM prescription of Phlegm-resolving and Collateral-unblocking and which had effects to reduce the side effects of conventional western medicine to a certain degree.