OBJECTIVETo study the therapeutic efficacy of embedding thread according to staging and wholism syndrome differentiation and its effect on correlated indices of patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis.

METHODS135 patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis were randomly assigned to the control group A (treated with Calcichew D3 Tablet), the control group B (treated with Calcichew D3 Tablet and Xianling Gubao Capsule), and the treatment group (treated with Calcichew D5 Tablet and embedding thread according to staging and wholism syndrome differentiation). The visual analogue scale (VAS), Chinese medicine syndrome integral, and the quality of life scale before treatment, 3 months after treatment, and 6 months after treatment were assessed. Changes of the lumbar bone mineral density (BMD) and the serum level of estradiol (E2) were also assessed before and after six-month treatment. And the therapeutic efficacy of each group was also assessed after 6 months of treatment.

RESULTSBefore treatment, there was no significant difference in scores of VAS, Chinese medicine syndrome integral and the quality of life scale, the.serum level of E2, and the lumbar BMD of the patients in three groups (all P>0.05). After three months of treatment, there was significant difference in scores of VAS, Chinese medicine syndrome integral and the quality of life scale of the patients in the three groups (all P<0.01). Of them, the improvement of the three indices in the control group A was the worst in three groups (P< 0.05, P<0.01). The VAS in the treatment group was superior to those in control group B (P<0.01). But the difference of Chinese medicine syndrome integral and the quality of life scale was insignificant in the three groups. After six months of treatment, significant difference was shown in the scores of VAS, Chinese medicine syndrome integral, or the quality of life scale of the patients in the three groups when compared with the corresponding index before treatment and after three months of treatment (all P<0.01). Of them the improvement of the three indices of patients in the treatment group and the control group B was better than that in the control group A (all P<0.01), and the improvement in the treatment group were superior to that in the control group B (P<0.05, P<0. 01). Significant difference was shown in the serum level of E2 and the lumbar BMD of the patients in the treatment group and the control group B when compared with before treatment of the same group (both P<0.01). But there was no difference in the control group A between before and after treatment, with better effects obtained in the treatment group and the control group B. And the serum level of E, of the patients in the treatment group after treatment was higher than that in the control group B (P<0.01), but there was no difference in the lumbar BMD. The therapeutic efficacy in the treatment group and the control group B were superior to that in the control group A (P<0.01, P<0.05), but no difference existed between the treatment group and the control group B.

CONCLUSIONSThe therapy of embedding thread according to staging and wholism syndrome differentiation could reduce the scores of VAS and Chinese medicine syndrome integral, enhance the serum lever of E2, the quality of life scale and the lumbar BMD of patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis. So it was an effective method.