Randomized Controlled Trial of Combination of Internal and External Therapy for the Attack Stage of Bronchial Asthma

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the curative effect and safety of the combination therapy of Qingfei Pingchuan Granule and Guben Qingfei Plaster in treating the attack stage of bronchial asthma (the heat syndrome). METHODS 120 cases of bronchial asthma in the attack stage (the heat syndrome) were randomly divided into experimental group and control group which received the combination therapy of Qingfei Pingchuan Granule and Guben Qingfei Plaster and the combination therapy of Theophylline Sustained-release Tablet and Budesonide Powder Inhalation respectively. Then the changes of indexes， such as TCM symptoms integral， disease severity classification， asthma control test (ACT) and eosinophils (EOS) count in peripheral blood， before and after treatment were observed. RESULTS Curative effects on the disease: the group with the combination therapy of Qingfei Pingchuan Granule and Guben Qingfei Plaster (experimental group) showed a markedly effective rate of 78.18% and a total effective rate of 92.73%， while the group with the combination therapy of Theophylline Sustained-release Tablet and Budesonide Powder Inhalation (control group) had a 80.39% markedly effective rate and a 90.20% total effective rate. The difference between two groups had no statistical significance (P>0.05)， meaning the two therapies had equivalent curative effects. Curative effects on the TCM syndrome: the markedly effective rate of experimental group was 63.63%， and the total effective rate was 92.73%， while those of control group were 52.94% and 88.24% respectively. The difference between two groups had no statistical significance (P>0.05)， which meant that the two therapies had equivalent curative effects on the TCM syndrome. There was no difference between two groups in the aspects of disease severity classification， asthma control situation and the influence on EOS count (P>0.05). CONCLUSION The curative effect of Qingfei Pingchuan Granule combined with Guben Qingfei Plaster is equal to that of Theophylline Sustained-release Tablet combined with Budesonide Powder Inhalation， and no obvious adverse reaction is found， which makes a new option for clinical medication possible.