Objective: To observe the clinical effect and safety of Sulfasalazine (SASP) combined with ZHUANG medicine mediated thread moxibustion (ZMMTM) for patients with mild and moderate ulcerative colitis (UC).
Methods: A total of 46 UC patients were randomly and equally divided into moxibustion group (SASP combined with ZMMTM) and SASP medication group. Patients of both groups were treated by oral administration of SASP (1 g, tid) for six weeks. For patients of the moxibustion group, ZMMTM was applied to points Tianshu (ST 25), Qihai (CV 6), Guanyuan (CV 4), and Dachangshu (BL 25), once a day, for 20 times. The therapeutic effect was assessed according to Schroeder and colleagues' method (1987), scores of Baron' s endoscope scale (0 - 9 scoring standards, 1964), 0 - 3 scoring standards of activity indexes (including 4 items of diarrhea, hemorrhage, mucosal appearance and doctors' evaluation), respectively.
Results: Of the two 32 UC patients in the medication and moxibustion groups, 6 and 9 had a complete remission in their symptoms, 6 and 7 experienced a remarkable improvement, 5 and 6 were effective, and 6 and 1 was invalid, with the effective rates being 73.91% and 95.65%, respectively. Following the treatment, both endoscopic score and activity index in the moxibustion group were significantly lower than those of the medication group (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: ZMMTM combined with medication is significantly superior to simple medication in relieving clinical symptoms of mild and moderate UC patients.