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| Sponsored by: |
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) |
| Information provided by: | National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) |
| ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00071149 |
Purpose
Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) make diagnoses based solely on clinical symptoms. This study will evaluate whether TCM practitioners make diagnoses consistently.
| Condition |
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Rheumatoid Arthritis |
| MedlinePlus related topics: | Rheumatoid Arthritis |
| Study Type: | Observational |
| Study Design: | Natural History, Cross-Sectional, Defined Population, Prospective Study |
| Official Title: | Consistency of Traditional Chinese Medicine Rheumatoid Arthritis Diagnosis and Herbal Prescriptions |
| Estimated Enrollment: | 120 |
| Study Start Date: | November 2001 |
| Estimated Study Completion Date: | April 2004 |
TCM is one of the oldest and most widely-used indigenous medical systems in the world. It is difficult to effectively practice or evaluate TCM outside of its core framework, which includes a diagnostic system that is more conceptual and less technologically driven than that of conventional medicine. TCM diagnosis relies entirely on clinical symptoms and signs that are discerned by the practitioner. The establishment of diagnostic and prescriptive consistency is crucial for efficacy studies involving individualized treatments within the TCM framework. This study will examine the consistency of TCM diagnoses and herbal prescriptions under controlled conditions.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients will be individually evaluated by three TCM practitioners; the diagnostic and prescriptive behaviors of the practitioners will be recorded and analyzed to determine: 1) the extent to which two or more TCM practitioners assign comparable TCM diagnoses to the same RA patients; 2) the extent to which two or more TCM practitioners prescribe comparable herbal formulas to the same RA patients; and 3) the extent to which TCM diagnoses are related to conventional clinical assessments and biomedical tests of RA. Variables that cause inconsistency will be identified and analyzed.
Eligibility
| Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years and older |
| Genders Eligible for Study: | Both |
| Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria
Contacts and Locations More Information
| Study ID Numbers: | R21 AT000590-01 |
| First Received: | October 14, 2003 |
| Last Updated: | August 17, 2006 |
| ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00071149 |
| Health Authority: | United States: Federal Government |
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