Abstract
In this study, patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) receiving standard treatments (topical steroids, topical tacrolimus, emollients or oral antihistamines) were treated for 12 weeks with jumihaidokuto (shi-wei-bai-du-tang), which is a traditional herbal medicine originating in Japan. As a result, 43 of 54 enrolled patients without severe side effects completed the treatment. The eruption score significantly decreased 4 weeks after administration (p<0.001), and the improvement of eruption score was 45.8±23.1% at 12 weeks, the end of trial. Jumihaidokuto significantly suppressed each eruption element (erythema and acute papule; oozing and crust; chronic papule, nodule, and lichenification; eruption area), and “oozing and crust” showed an improvement rate of 59.7%, which was significantly higher than the rate of improvement in “eruption area”. This was followed by the improvement rate for “erythema and acute papule”. We also investigated the correlation between the improvement rate of eruption score and the contribution of three eruption elements to the eruption score before jumihaidokuto administration. We found a negative correlation between the improvement rate for eruption score and the contribution of “chronic papule, nodule, and lichenification” (p<0.05), suggesting that AD patients with a higher proportion of “chronic papule, nodule, and lichenification” were more resistant to jumihaidokuto treatment. In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that jumihaidokuto is a treatment option for AD, based not only on Oriental medicine theory but also on cutaneous symptoms. Skin Research, 10: 34-40, 2011
