Weierkang pills show promise in treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis

Treatment with Weierkang pills, a traditional Chinese medicine, results in improved symptoms, endoscopic appearance, and pathologic changes in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis, a study has shown. Notably, trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) appears to play a major role in the pathophysiology mechanism.

To assess the safety and efficacy of Weierkang pills in treating chronic atrophic gastritis, a total of 108 patients were randomly assigned to receive either Weierkang pills (group A) or folic acid combined with teprenone (group B).

The authors then compared symptoms, endoscopic scores, and biopsy specimens at baseline and 3 months after treatment. In addition, they compared the expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor and TFF3 in biopsy specimens.

The total effective rates of atrophy/intestinal metaplasia were similar between groups A and B (51.7 percent vs 40.0 percent; p=0.419). Use of Weierkang pills resulted in significant improvement in the total effective rate of atrophy/intestinal metaplasia in gastric angle compared with folic acid plus teprenone (64.7 percent vs 33.3 percent; p=0.024).

In addition, Weierkang significantly reduced the total Kyoto risk score (2.6 vs 3.3; p=0.002) and atrophy score (1.4 vs 1.8; p=0.001) after treatment. The traditional Chinese medicine also improved symptoms (1.3 vs 1.8; p=0.003) and epigastric pain (0.2 vs 0.5; p=0.041).

Furthermore, treatment with Weierkang pills led to a substantial reduction in the expression of TFF3 in the gastric mucosa (p=0.002).

“There are currently no standard treatments for chronic atrophic gastritis and traditional Chinese medicine may be effective,” the authors said.