Changes of Liver Function in 48 Patients with SARS and Treatment of Inte-grative Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine

OBJECTIVE: To study changes of liver function in 48 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and effects on it of SARS patient treated by integrative traditional Chinese and western medicine (ICWM) . METHODS: 48 patients were randomly divided into two groups. The control group treated by western medicine (WM) alone and the test group treated by ICWM. The test group patients took the traditional Chinese medicine by 3 weeks based on their conditions. Alanine aminotrasferase (ALT)、aspartate aminotrasferase (AST)、 total bilirubin (TBil) in plasma were measured. RESULTS: (1)The rate of anomaly liver function in 48 patients was 100% . The changes mainly existedin notable elevation of ALT.The number of patients with anomaly ALT after ICWM treatment decreased from 20 to 8, and after WM treatment, increased from 8 to 19. The number of patients with anomaly AST after ICWM treatment decrease from 9 to 1, and after WM treatment, decrease from 6 to 3, The number of patients with anomaly TBil after ICWM treatment decreased from 11 to 1, and after WM treatment , decreased from 7 to 1.(2)The value of ALT in plasma in patients treated by ICWM decreased from (81.54±49.25) IU/L to (46.92±29.20) IU/L (P0.05), and treated by WM, however increase from (53.96±48.95) IU/L to (80.80±56.26) IU/L. Comparison of the value of ALT after treatment between the two groups showed significantly different (P0.05) . CONCLUSION: The rate of anomaly liver function in 48 patients was 100% , mainly with notable elevation of ALT. The therapeutic strategy of ICWM has been shown better than that of WM alone on relieving damage of liver, enhancing liver function and accelerating comprehensive rehabilitation of patients.