Clinical effect and mechanism research of Xiaozhong Sanjie prescription combined with Huayu powder external application for treatment of patients with nodular goiter / 中国中西医结合急救杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of Xiaozhong Sanjie prescription combined with Huayu powder external application for treatment of patients with nodular goiter (NG) and approach its mechanism. Methods A prospective randomized controlled study was conducted, including 128 patients who were definitely diagnosed as NG and admitted into Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University from September 2014 to December 2016, and they were divided into a control group and a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment group by random number table method, 64 cases in each group. The control group received follow up observation; the TCM group was treated by Xiaozhong Sanjie prescription (the ingredients: rhizoma sparganii 15 g, zedoary 10 g, fritillary bulb 15 g, prunella vulgaris 20 g, bupleurum 6 g, dried tangerine 10 g, oyster 20 g, fructus aurantii 10 g, radix glycyrrhizae 5 g) in the mean time combined with Huayu powder (the ingredients: borneol 10 g, prunella vulgaris 20 g, pinellia ternata 15 g, oyster 15 g, radix curcumae 15 g, rhubarb 15 g); the ingredients of the prescription were immersed in water and decocted to form a decoction, a dose 400 mL daily, 200 mL taken orally in the morning and 200 mL in the evening after meal; the powder ingredients were mixed and stirred thoroughly with Chinese rice wine or vinegar (10 mL) to form a paste which was put uniformly flat onto a gauze about 15 cm in length and 1 cm in thickness, roasted by infrared lamp, as the paste temperature was lowered to body temperature, it was attached on the goiter skin of neck, then fixed by bandage before sleep to the next morning, afterwards the paste was removed and nodular skin washed, the length of external application being guaranteed to be over 4 hours a day; in the event when skin red swelling or pruritus occurred, promethazine should be used or the duration of application was shortened. Fifteen days constituted one therapeutic course, and after consecutive 3 courses of treatment, the therapeutic effects in the two groups were observed. Before and after treatment in the two groups, the changes of thyroid nodular size and TCM syndrome score were observed, meanwhile the thyroid functional index levels of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), insulin-like growth factor Ⅰ(IGF-Ⅰ) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results After treatment for 45 days, compared with control group, the thyroid nodule in TCM treatment group was significantly shrunken (mm: 8.75±3.41 vs. 15.89±4.51, P < 0.05) , and TCM syndrome score in TCM treatment group was significantly lowered (20.35±4.83 vs. 35.53±6.71, P < 0.05); before and after admission in the two groups, the thyroid function indexes of thyrotropic-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) were in the normal range, and there were no statistical significant differences between the two groups (all P > 0.05); the levels of serum VEGF, IGF-I were reduced in the TCM treatment group [VEGF (ng/L): 27.52±8.35 vs. 33.08±9.57, IGF-Ⅰ (μg/L): 24.12±6.74 vs. 35.57±11.39], TGF-β1 was increased in the TCM treatment group (ng/L: 363.67±97.83 vs. 225.87±47.71), and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). Conclusions Xiaozhong Sanjie decoction combined with Huayu powder external application can inhibit the levels of VEGF, IGF-Ⅰ and elevate the TGF-β1 level that possibly the mechanism of the combined therapy to shrink the thyroid nodule size.