In the light of the theory of treating the internal disease externally, an externally used plaster for treating cough and dyspnea due to acute bronchitis (Ke Chuan Yi Tie Kang [symbol: see text]-[symbol: see text]) was successfully applied to 735 cases of acute bronchitis (the treatment group), with the other 423 cases treated with routine western drugs as controls. The results showed that the cure rate in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.01); and that in the treatment group, the cure rate for the wind-cold type of acute bronchitis was significantly higher than that for the wind-heat type of acute bronchitis (P < 0.01).