Observation on Clinical Efficacy of External Treatment of Traditional Chinese Medicine Combined with Qiju Dihuang Pill in the Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy

Objective: This study observed the clinical effect of external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) combined with Qiju Dihuang pill on the treatment of diabetic retinopathy. Methods: 62 patients with diabetic retinopathy, who were treated with Qiju Dihuang pill combined with TCM external treatment from January 2021 to May 2023 in our hospital, were included as the combination group, and 60 patients treated with Qiju Dihuang pill were set as the control group. The clinical efficacy in the two groups was compared. The best corrected visual acuity, macular central retinal thickness, retinal hemodynamic indexes, oxidative stress indexes, and angiogenesis-related factors of the two groups were collected. The occurrence of adverse reactions in the two groups during treatment was statistically sorted out. Results: The total effective rate was higher in the combination group than the control group (p < 0.05). After treatment, optimal corrected visual acuity, peak systolic velocity of central retinal artery, end-diastolic velocity of blood flow, average blood flow velocity, glutathione peroxidase, total antioxidant capacity, and pigment epithelium-derived factor levels were increased (p < 0.05), while the levels of macular central retinal thickness, central retinal vein return velocity, blood flow resistance index, pulse index, advanced oxidized protein products and vascular endothelial growth factor were decreased (p < 0.05) in both groups. Notably, the changes of these indexes were more evident in the combination group than the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Qiju Dihuang pill combined with TCM for external treatment has good clinical efficacy on diabetic retinopathy, which can effectively improve visual acuity and retinal hemorheology, reduce the macular central retinal thickness, and inhibit oxidative stress and angiogenesis, indicating its certain clinical application value.