Back to Search
Start Over
Combination Therapy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine to Treat Refractory Polymyositis: A Case Report.
- Source :
-
Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine . May2015, Vol. 21 Issue 5, p304-306. 3p. - Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- Objective: To illustrate the potential for clinical improvement and regimen decrement in treating a patient with a refractory case of polymyositis (PM) with a combination of Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Interventions and Outcome measures: A 40-year-old man diagnosed with steroid-resistant PM in January 2011 demonstrated a poor response to immunosuppressants. Complementary TCM treatments were applied to treat his weakness at a clinic integrating TCM and rheumatology in February 2012. He was treated with herbal formula powders named 'Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang' and 'Si-Jun-Zi-Tan.' Within 1 month of treatment, the patient seemed to show significant improvement in the grade of disability. Daily doses of methotrexate and methylprednisolone were tapered to 25% and 95.8% after TCM treatments, respectively. Creatine phosphokinase also decreased from 6655 to 718 U/L until December 2013. Conclusions: In our experience, weakness related to PM can be improved by invigorating the spleen- Qi with TCM treatments. This might indicate that TCM treatments can not only play a role in symptom control but also accelerate steroid tapping for refractory cases. Long-term follow-up and future experimental studies are warranted to examine the efficacy and explore the mechanism of TCM treatments for PM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10755535
- Volume :
- 21
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 103798722
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2014.0145