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 718U/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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 304-306 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 01 05 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2015.