Comparative study on clinical effect of Xuebijing injection (血必净注射液) and methylprednisolone in the treatment of sepsis

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Xuebijing injection (血必净注射液) in the treatment of sepsis. Methods: Forty-one cases in respiratory intensive care unit (RICU) with sepsis were divided randomly into a treatment group and a control group. On the basis of the routine Western medicine, Xuebijing injection was added (50-100 ml intravenous drip twice daily for 7 days) in the treatment group, while in the contrast group, methylprednisolone was added (40-80 mg intravenous drip once daily for 7 days). The acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅲ (APACHEⅢ) score were observed before and on the 3rd, 5th, 7th day after treatment. The levels of white blood cells (WBC), neutrophils (N), C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBil), serum creatinine (SCr) were observed before treatment and 7 days after the treatment. Results: Compared with the APACHEⅢ score before treatment, the scores of Xuebijing group and methylprednisolone group after treatment were lowered significantly (77.9±8.8) scores vs. (57.6±12.0) scores and (75.8±5.2) scores vs. (58.6±15.6) scores, both P0.05, and the levels of WBC, N, CRP, TNF-α, ALT, AST, TBil, SCr in two groups after the treatment were significantly lower (P0.05 or P0.01). The total effective rate in Xuebijing group and methylprednisolone were 95.0% and 95.2%, respectively. No significant difference of the above figure between the two treatment groups was found (all P0.05). Conclusion: Xuebijing injection and methylprednisolone are effective in the treatment of sepsis, and they have the similar clinical effect. It is suggested that Xuebijing injection have a similar effect on antagonizing the inflammation as methylprednisolone.