PMID- 23548118
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20130909
LR  - 20130403
IS  - 1793-6853 (Electronic)
IS  - 0192-415X (Linking)
VI  - 41
IP  - 2
DP  - 2013
TI  - The new use of an ancient remedy: a double-blinded randomized study on the 
      treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
PG  - 263-80
LID - 10.1142/S0192415X13500195 [doi]
AB  - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common chronic inflammatory disease with 
      unknown causes and unknown cures in Western medicine. This double-blinded study 
      aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of a widely used traditional Chinese 
      medicine (Paeoniflorin (PAE) plus cervus and cucumis polypeptide injection (CCPI) 
      using disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) as a control (methotrexate 
      (MTX) plus leflunomide (LEF)). Patients were randomly assigned to one of the 
      three groups: PAE + CCPI, MTX + LEF, and MTX + LEF + CCPI. The primary end point 
      was the American College of Rheumatology 20% improvement response criteria 
      (ACR20). The secondary end point was that of adverse effect frequencies and the 
      speed of onset action. Our results showed that more patients in the 
      CCPI-containing groups responded to the ACR20 during early treatment. After six 
      months, ACR20 showed no significant difference among the three treatments. The 
      maximum improvement in the two DMARD groups was significantly higher than that in 
      the PAE + CCPI group (p < 0.01). CCPI made the onset action of the DMARD therapy 
      4.6 times faster. PAE + CCPI had significantly lower adverse event incidences 
      than the two DMARD groups. These results indicate that PAE + CCPI appear to be a 
      more acceptable alternative to DMARDs when patients cannot use DMARDs. CCPI 
      appears to be a beneficial add-on to DMARDs that makes the onset of action 
      faster, especially when patients need to relieve RA symptoms as soon as possible. 
      Although not as effective as DMARDs, PAE appears to be a safer option to 
      substitute DMARDs for long-term RA treatment when DMARD toxicity is an issue.
FAU - Chen, Letian
AU  - Chen L
AD  - Department of Rheumatology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Affiliated to Capital 
      Medical University, Beijing, P. R. China.
FAU - Qi, Haiyu
AU  - Qi H
FAU - Jiang, Dezhen
AU  - Jiang D
FAU - Wang, Renshuo
AU  - Wang R
FAU - Chen, Aidong
AU  - Chen A
FAU - Yan, Zhixiang
AU  - Yan Z
FAU - Xiao, Jun
AU  - Xiao J
LA  - eng
SI  - ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT01600521
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Randomized Controlled Trial
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - Singapore
TA  - Am J Chin Med
JT  - The American journal of Chinese medicine
JID - 7901431
RN  - 0 (Drugs, Chinese Herbal)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Arthritis, Rheumatoid/*drug therapy
MH  - Drug Therapy, Combination
MH  - Drugs, Chinese Herbal/*administration & dosage
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Treatment Outcome
MH  - Young Adult
EDAT- 2013/04/04 06:00
MHDA- 2013/09/10 06:00
CRDT- 2013/04/04 06:00
PHST- 2013/04/04 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/04/04 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2013/09/10 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1142/S0192415X13500195 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Am J Chin Med. 2013;41(2):263-80. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X13500195.