Abstract
Background Patients with acute gouty arthritis experienc severe pain and often have concomitant limited joint movement. High-dose intake of anti-inflammatory analgesics often results in adverse reactions, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, and might increase the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. In order to reduce the adverse reactions by oral intake, local use of externally useddrugs with the same active ingredients as the oral intake is an option in clinical practice. However, externally useddrugs take effect slowly and efficacy to reduce painful feelingis unsatisfactory. Therefore, it is demanding to develop a safe and effective treatment plan. In this regard, researchers have put up a hypothesis. The skin of the human body has a dense stratum corneum, which is difficult for externally used drugs to penetrate effectively; if the keratin barrier of the skin around affected joints can be broken without further damaging the skin, externally applied drugs may safely and effectively alleviate the local symptoms of acute gouty arthritis. The nano plum blossom needle is made of a modern new material. The needle body is thin and the diameter of the needle tip is only 300 nm. The needle is used clinically to break through the keratin barrier of the human skin and promote the absorption of external medicine. Therefore, this trial was designed to preliminarily evaluate the safety and effectiveness of using the nano plum blossom needle for the introduction of diclofenac diethylamine emulgel in the treatment of acute gouty arthritis. Methods A randomized controlled trial including 83 patients with acute gouty arthritis was conducted, who was assigned to three groups, the intervention group, control group 1, and control group 2 in a ratio of 2:2:1, respectively. The nano plum blossom needle was used for the introduction of diclofenac diethylamine emulgel in the intervention group; the nano plum blossom needle was used as a placebo along with the local use of diclofenac diethylamine emulgel in control group 1; and the nano plum blossom needle was used alone in control group 2. The treatments were applied once a day until the pain was completely relieved and the course of treatment lasted up to 7 days. The primary outcome measurement was the visual analog scale for evaluating the degree of pain. The secondary outcome indicators included scoring of the symptoms and signs with comprehensive consideration of the joint skin color, local tenderness, and degree of joint motion, the time and dose of emergency medication usage during trial, and adverse events. Discussion This trial couldprovide preliminary evidence for evidence-based practice of using nano plum blossom needle transdermal drug delivery technology for diclofenac diethylamine emulgel for the treatment of acute gouty arthritis, and provide a reference for sample size calculation and experimental design of future clinical trials verifying the effectiveness and safety of such a technical scheme in a larger target population. Registration information This study has been registered in the China Clinical Trial Registry Centerwith the registration code of ChiCTR-IOR-17012154. Key words: Clinical protocols; Randomized controlled trials as topic; Arthritis, gouty; Plum blossom needle therapy; Nanotechnology
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