Effects of sinomenine combined with methotrexate on rheumatoid arthritis

Objective To assess the effects of sinomenine combined with methotrexate on rheumatoid arthritis.Methods 69 patients of rheumatoid arthritis were randomly assigned to MTX+SINOMENINE group(n=35)(MTX 10 mg,po,once a week,sinomenine 60 mg,po,twice a day) and MTX group(n=34)(MTX 10 mg,po,once a week only).All patients were followed-up fortnightly for 8 weeks.The disease activity was assessed with the help of 5 clinical and 3 laboratory indices.Results Patients in both groups showed significant decline in all indices.Marked,minor and no improvement were 21(60%),14(40%) and 0 in the MTX+SINOMENINE group and 7(20.6%),24(70.6%) and 3(8.8%) in MTX group respectively.Conclusion There are obvious effects of sinomenine combined with methotrexate on rheumatoid arthritis.