Clinical Study on Jingutong Capsule Treating Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis with Hip Joint Involvement

OBJECRTIVE To observe the clinical effect of Jingutong capsule on the treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) with hip joints involvement. METHODS 44 cases of JIA patients in our hospital were randomly divided into the treatment group (22 cases) and the control group (22 cases). In the control group， the total glucosides of paeony and methotrexate were taken orally. The treatment group was given Jingutong capsule， a self-made Chinese patent medicine of our hospital， on the basis of the control group. In addition， both groups were also given Chinese traditional massage on hips. After 4 months' treatment， TCM syndrome grade， clinical curative effect， bone mineral density (BMD)， visual analogue scale (VAS)， main signs (morning stiffness time， the finger floor distance， occipito wall gap， Schober sign)， disease activity index and changes of the serum inflammatory factors level were compared before and after the treatment. RESULTS After treatment， BMD of left and right hip in the treatment group was not significantly changed (P>0.05)， while BMD of left and right hip in control group was significantly lower than that before treatment (P<0.05). The curative effect of the treatment group was significantly better than that of the control group (P<0.01). As to TCM syndrome grade and clinical efficacy， the treatment group was significantly superior to the control group (P<0.01). The VAS score in the treatment group was better than that in the control group (P<0.01)， and the improvement of finger floor distance， occipito wall gap， morning stiffness time and Schober sign in the treatment group were much more significant than that in the control group (P<0.01). Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)， C-reactive protein (CRP)， rheumatoid factor (RF)， anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP)， serum IL-1， IL-17， tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)， the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) and matrix metalloproteinase-14 (MMP-14) decreased much more significantly in the treatment group (P<0.01) than that in the control group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION Jingutong capsule has a significant effect on the treatment of JIA.