[Clinical effect of escin on patients with cutaneous pruritus caused by blood stasis and wind-dryness].
OBJECTIVE
To observe the clinical effect of escin on patients with cutaneous pruritus caused by blood stasis and wind-dryness and to prove the theory that "wind should be treated by regulating blood disorder, and wind disappears after activating blood" in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).


METHODS
Fifty-one patients were randomly divided into escin-treated group (n=30) and loratadine-treated group (n=21). The patients in the escin-treated group were treated with escin for 4 weeks (300 mg, b.i.d.), and the patients in the loratadine-treated group were treated with loratadine (10 mg, q.d.). Symptom score reducing index (SSRI) was used to assess the pruritus degree, lesion range and lesion shape before the treatment, 2 weeks and 4 weeks after the treatment, respectively.


RESULTS
Two weeks after the treatment, the effective rate of the escin-treated group was 63.3%, and the effective rate of the loratadine-treated group was 67.0%. Four weeks after the treatment, the effective rates were 86.7% and 80.0% in escin- and loratadine-treated groups respectively. There was no statistical difference in total scores of SSRI in two groups (P>0.05), and the scores of pruritus degree and lesion shape also had no statistical difference (P>0.05), while the score of lesion range of the escin-treated group was lower than that of the loratadine-treated group (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Escin has satisfactory effect in treating pruritus caused by blood stasis and wind-dryness. The study confirms the TCM theory that "wind should be treated by regulating blood disorder, and wind disappears after activating blood".
Li
Fu-Lun
FL
Department of Dermatology, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China.
Xu
Rong
R
Zhou
Rong
R
Fan
Bin
B
Zhou
Min
M
Xu
Wen-Bin
WB
Gu
Di-Qing
DQ
Zhang
Ming
M
Li
Bin
B
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004928:Escin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D039563:Histamine H1 Antagonists, Non-Sedating / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D017336:Loratadine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011537:Pruritus / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012867:Skin / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D039563:Histamine H1 Antagonists, Non-Sedating; D010936:Plant Extracts; D004928:Escin; D017336:Loratadine