Herbal medication, Xuebijing decreases ICU stay, death in severe pneumonia
China: Treatment with a traditional herbal-based Chinese medication Xuebijing led to significant improvement in pneumonia symptoms, decreased mortality, duration of Intensive care unit (ICU) stay and duration of mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia.
Small, low-quality studies have suggested clinical benefit with the herbal-based medication Xuebijing in patients with severe infections, but large, high-quality randomized trials have not yet been performed.
Song Yuanlin, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, and colleagues conducted this prospective, randomized, controlled study to investigate whether XueBiJing injection improves clinical outcomes in critically ill patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia.
For the purpose, the researchers analyzed a total of 710 patients (ages 18–75 years) across 33 centres (average age, 58; 68% male). The patients had severe community-acquired pneumonia (as defined by the American Thoracic Society). The patients were randomized to 5 days of intravenous Xuebijing or matching placebo in addition to standard care. Patients with pregnancy, obstructive lung tumors, or severe comorbidities, and those taking immunosuppressants were excluded.
The primary outcome was an 8-day improvement in the pneumonia severity index risk rating. Secondary outcomes were 28-day mortality rate, duration of mechanical ventilation and total duration of Intensive care unit (ICU) stay.
Key findings of the study include:
- Improvement in the pneumonia severity index risk rating, from a previously defined endpoint, occurred in 203 (60.78%) participants receiving XueBiJing and in 158 (46.33%) participants receiving placebo (14.4% [6.9–21.8%]).
- Fifty-three (15.87%) XueBiJing recipients and 84 (24.63%) placebo recipients (8.8% [2.4–15.2%]) died within 28 days.
- XueBiJing administration also decreased the mechanical ventilation time and the total Intensive care unit (ICU )stay duration.
- The median mechanical ventilation time was 11.0 versus 16.5 days for the XueBiJing and placebo groups, respectively.
- The total duration of Intensive care unit (ICU) stay was 12 days for XueBiJing recipients versus 16 days for placebo recipients.
- A total of 256 patients experienced adverse events (119 [35.63%] vs 137 [40.18%] in the XueBiJing and placebo groups, respectively.
"This appears to be a very well-done randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled trial, but the results seem too good to be true for herbal treatment. If these results can be replicated and proven to be generalizable, Xuebijing would be a tremendous addition to the treatment of critically ill patients with pneumonia," concluded the authors.
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