In treatment of systemic scleroderma, thoracic duct drainage surgery is defined as to insert silicone tube into the cervical part of thoracic duct and have the far end of silicone tube led to a drainage bottle through subsurface of skin.

Systemic scleroderma as a general desmosis, is widely believed this disease is an autoimmune disease caused by long-term chronic infection on a hereditary basis. A great variety of autoantibodies in the patients' sero are found. For the untreated patients of systemic scleroderma, the peripheral lymph counting is found normal or slightly decreased; however, a study of the subgroup found that the proportion of helper T lymphocytes (CD4) and B-cells increased while T suppressor cells (CD8) decreased, and the humoral immunity enhanced obviously. Especially, there are plenty of autoantibodies and immune complexes existing, and IgG is higher than the normal limit. 95% of the patients' thoracic duct lymph liquid is found T lymphocyte. In addition, there are plenty of autoantibodies, cell factors, inflammatory factors and immune complex found inside the patients' thoracic duct. After a thoracic duct surgery, the counting of autoantibodies and sensitized lymphocyte, especially memory cells, will decrease while the ratio of T4 to T8 will become lower. Along with the lose of B cell, many immature B cells will get into the circulation system to cause the counting of IgG, circulating immune complexes and receptors of interleukin-2 decreased significantly, which can inhibit the sthenic condition of humoral immunity and thus affect the immunity cause to systemic scleroderma.

On the basis of thoracic duct drainage surgery, a thoracic duct drainage surgery combined with TCM three-phase softening therapy is developed. Traditional Chinese medicine has such functions as removing toxic heat, warming yang, dispelling pathogenic cold, promoting blood circulation, regulating the meridians, dissolving the stagnant and promoting the subsidence of swelling, which is helpful in inhibiting proliferation of fibrous tissue and damage to the organs by inflammatory cells, regulating the function of microcirculation, metabolism of muscle cells, protein and enzyme as well as physical and chemical properties of blood so as to improve patients' internal environment and retard the progress of disease towards internal organs from skin. Therefore, this combined therapy may soften the affected skin evidently, relieve pigmentation, Reynauds phenomenon, dysphagia, joint symptoms and limb ulcer, recover the affected internal organs gradually and improve the laboratory examination result so as to cure the disease eventually.

The thoracic duct drainage surgery combined with TCM therapy is appraised by experts as the best solution currently in treatment of systemic scleroderma internationally, which established a new approach to curing systemic scleroderma.