Integration of traditional Chinese and western medicine for treating lumbar intervertebral disc herniation: Review analysis of 1586 cases

Abstract

Aim: To summarize the short- and long-term curative effects of lumbar intervertebral disc herniation (LIDH) with integration of traditional Chinese and western medicine, and compare with the effect of surgical treatment. Methods: Totally 1 586 inpatients treated in the Department of Orthopaedics, Ruikang Hospital of Guangxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2000 to December 2005 were volunteered to join the study, and they were diagnosed as LIDH by CT or MRI of lumbar spine. 1 There were 612 cases treated with operations. Operative style was mainly the removals of nucleus pulposus by lamina windowing, enlarge windowing of lamina, hemilaminectomy, vertebral canal decompression and microendoscopic discectomy, and partly the removals of nucleus pulposus by hemilaminectomy, laminectomy and transpedicular fixation, etc. 2 And 974 cases were treated with integration of traditional Chinese and western medicine. Chinese or western drugs were injected by intravenous drips, and the patients were also orally administrated with non-steroid analgesics and homemade traditional Chinese medicine preparations such as Huoxue Zhitong capsule or Qufeng Sanhan capsule and Bushen Shujin capsule (all the herbs were purchased from local medical materials company), which was followed by block therapy, lying in plank bed for resting, traction, massage manipulation, local scald therapy and so on. One or manifold methods were adopted in non-operative group. The period of treatment depended on the locus and degree of lesions, and short-term was defined as before treatment or from 3 months to 2 years post-treatment by return visit, while long-term was defined as more than 2 years post-treatment by telephone interview. Curative effect: 1 Excellent: All the symptoms were relieved, and the patients recovered to normal work and life; 2 Good: Part of symptoms was relieved, but the patients did not recovered to normal levels. Results: There were 996 patients lost in the long-term follow-up by telephone interviews. Comparison of short- and long-term curative effects: The cases who got excellent and good outcomes were significantly higher in operation group than in non-operative group [95.42%, 72.9%, (u=14.333 3, P < 0.01)], but no significant difference was found in the long-term curative effects between two treatment groups [92.65%, 88.0%, (u=0.458 6, P > 0.05)]. Conclusion: As for LIDH, the short-term curative effect of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine integration treatment is better than that of conservative treatment, while the long-term curative effect is similar between integration treatment and conservative treatment, suggesting that conservative treatment and postoperative rehabilitative exercises are still crucial for LIDH patients after surgical treatment.