Study On The Treatment Of Infantile Eczema With Traditional Chinese Medicine

Objective Infantile eczema is a common dermatosis which may be caused by many different factors. It is a kind of skin inflammatory response which is clinically characterized by erythema, papule, blister, erosion, effusion and severe pruritus. Because of its liability to recurrence, infantile eczema can do harm to the healthy of infants and even affect their growth and development. Food and inhaling antigens were considered as the main causes of infantile eczema by many early researchers, however, recent studies have shown that microorganism, especially staphylococcus aureous, may cause or exacerbate this disease. Corticosteroid and its compound, which are currently used topically to treat infantile eczema, are not satisfactory because of their remarkable side-effects and poor long-term effects.In order to find a new way to treat infantile eczema, we choose Certex phellodendri, Radix Arnebiae seu lithospermi and Radix sanguisorbae. These drugs have many effects, such as astring,dispelling dampness, anti-inflammatory, antianaphylaxis and antibiosis.Methods By agar diluent method, the activity of antibiosis of Certex phellodendri, Radix Sanguisorbae and Radix Arnebiae seu Lithospermi were detected quantitatively to find proper matching proportion in which the compound has better powerful suppressing effect on bacteria. Then, a kind of oil-in-water emulsion was made according to the proportion. Before clinical application, the cream had undergone stability test and skin-irritative test. The traditional Chinese medicine creams, 5% and 10%, were used to treat the patients of treatment groups, pevenson and space stroma were applied to the control groups. One hundred and twenty cases of infantile eczema were randomly divided into four groups A, B, C and D. The patients in group A were treated with 5% traditional Chinese medicine cream, group B with 10% traditional Chinese medicine cream, group C with pevenson and group D with stroma only. Clinical study was undertaken in randomized and parallel-group methods.Results Staphylococcus aureous and staphylococcus epiderm all could be suppressed by Certex phellodendri, Radix Arnebiae seu lithospermi or/and Radix sanguisorbae. When they were mixed in the proportion of 1:1:2, they showed better antiseplic effect than Certex phellodendri, Radix Sanguisorbae or Radix Arnebiae seu lithospermi alone. We also demonstrated that traditional Chinese medicine cream had good stability and no irritation on skins.Clinical observation showed that the curavite effects and clearance rate of bacteria of traditional Chinese medicine cream, 5% and 10%, were both significantly better than that of stroma(P<0.05~0.01). The cure rate of 10% traditional Chinese medicine cream was significantly higher than that of 5% traditional Chinese medicine cream(P<0.05). In curavite effect, clearance rate of staphylococcus aureous, tolerance and side-effect, there were no significant differences between 10% traditional Chinese medicine cream group and pevenson group (P>0.05).Conclusions Traditional Chinese medicine cream containing certex phellodendri, Radix sanguisorbae and Radix Arnebiae seu lithospermi has multiple potencies of astringe, dispelling dampness, anti-inflammatory, antianaphylaxis and antibiosis. Because of its good effect, tolerance and little side-effect, it is an ideal drug for infantile eczema.