OBJECTIVETo study the clinical effect of combined treatment with gamma-globulin, corticosteroids, immunosuppressor and Chinese medicines on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients characterized by hypoplastic bone marrow (HBM).

METHODSNineteen patients were randomly assigned to two groups, the treated group (10 cases) received combined therapy of prednisone and cyclophosphamide (CTX) plus Chinese medicine Langchuang Recipe after being treated impactively with gamma-globulin. The control group (9 cases) was treated with prednisone and CTX. Changes of hypoplastic bone marrow, peripheral white blood cell (WBC), complement C3, 24 h urinary protein excretion, and lupus activity index (LAI) were observed, and a follow-up was carried out for one year.

RESULTSAfter one-month treatment, the bone marrow hypoplasia was relieved significantly in the treated group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), showing an improvement superior to that in the control group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01); after three months treatment, the level of complement C3 increased (P < 0.01), while the 24 h urinary protein excretion and LAI decreased in the treated group (P < 0.05), showing significant difference as compared with those in the control group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). In the follow-up period, 3 cases withdrew from the trial because of infection and 4 cases manifested full moon-face and acne in the control group, while no adverse reaction was found in the treated group.

CONCLUSIONTreatment with integrated Chinese and Western medicine could effectively improve bone marrow hypoplasia, alleviate the clinical symptoms, suppress the activity of lupus in patients, and reduce the adverse reaction of treatment, showing a superiority to the treatment with prednisone combining with CTX.