AIM: To observe the clinical effect of Buddleja officinalis and Xueshuangtong capsule treating the mild and moderate simple diabetic retinopathy(sDR).

METHODS: Based on the strict control of blood glucose and blood pressure, eighty patients(160 eyes)with mild and moderate sDR were randomized into two groups equally: Buddleja officinalis(15g,tid)and Xueshuangtong capsule administered to group A and only Xueshuangtong capsule administered to group B. They are taken before meals half an hour. The vision, funduscopy, FFA, fundus photography and traditional chinese medcine symptoms(TCMS)were evalutated before and after treatment in 7d,42 d respectively.

RESULTS: There were no significant difference between two groups in terms of patients' gender, age, DM course, visual acuity, course of disease and TCM syndrome.(χ ² _sex=0.472, P>0.05; t_age=1.742,t_{DM condition}=0.716,t_vision=0.662,t_{DR degree}=1.276,t_{DR condition}=0.562,t _TCMS=0.616,P >0.05); Follow up for 42d on average after treatment the effective rate of fundus lesions of group A was 56%and the total effective rate was 82%,while the effective rate of group B was 32% and the total effective rate was 66%. The result showed that the curative effect of group A was better than that of group B. There were statistically significant difference for the effective rate between the two groups(χ²=8.025, P<0.05). The effective rate of TCMS in group A was 50%, and total effective rate was 80%, while group B shows a 24% effective rate and 62% total effective ratet.The result showed that the curative effect of group A was significantly better than that of group B(χ ²=5.980,P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: Buddleja officinalis and Xueshuangtong capsule can improve the vision of patients with the mild and moderate sDR patients, the fundus lesions and the TCMS.