Clinical efficacy of Bhringarajasava as Naimittika Rasayana in Rajayakshma with special reference to pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract

The clinical study was conducted at the Out Patient Department of State TB Training and Demonstration Centre, S.R. Nagar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, during June 2003 to December 2004. A group of 60 patients of PTB were included in the study and were divided into two equal groups. Both the groups were on the Directly Observed Treatment Short – course chemotherapy (DOTS) regime. The test group was given DOTS + Bhringarajasava (30 ml thrice a day) and the control group was only on DOTS. The study was to evaluate whether the addition of Bhringarajasava as Naimittika Rasayana (complementary drug) is beneficial in providing faster and better relief or not. Both subjective and objective parameters were considered for the assessment of results. Among the specific symptomatology, Amsaparsabitapah (pain in costal and scapular region), Kasa (cough), Jwara (pyrexia), Swasa (dyspnoea) and Bhaktadwesha (anorexia) were the symptoms manifested by all the patients. Results of the present study indicate that better, safer, and faster relief provided by the addition of Bhringarajasava to DOTS. This is an effort to utilize drugs from the vast Ayurvedic pharmacopoeia as safe adjuvant to DOTS regime so that toxicity and associated side effects of the DOTS can be ameliorated. This process of using therapies from two disparate systems of medicine could potentially lead to further enhancements in the field of complementary medicine and create a symbiosis between the different systems, which may lead to Rasayana DOTS (R-DOTS) in future.