Toshiaki Kogure¹, Yuko Oku², Daijiro Kishi¹, Tomoyuki Ito³ and Takeshi Tatsumi¹

¹Department of Integrated Japanese Oriental Medicine, School of Medicine, Gunma University, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan. ²Department of Internal Medicine, Gunma Central General Hospital, Gunma, Japan. ³Department of Internal Medicine (Division of Rheumatology), Nagaoka Red-Cross Hospital, Niigata, Japan.

Abstract

We present three rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients successfully treated with traditional herbal medicine (THM: Kampo). The treatment with THM resulted in a decrease in RA disease activity such as DAS28, as well as in the serum levels of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP) in 3 cases. These observations suggest that disease progression may be retarded in patients who respond to THM since anti-CCP is important for the prediction of disease severity and radiographic joint damage. Additionally, serial mesurements of anti-CCP titers may be a useful indicator in assessing this kind of treatment efficacy.