Objective To explore the clinical efficacy and mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine（ TCM）fumigation combined with conventional treatment on healing of diabetic foot ulcer. Methods A total of 64 patients with diabetic foot ulcer were randomly divided into control group and observation group

with 32 cases in each group.Control group was treated with conventional method while observation group was additionally treated with TCM fumigation on the basis of the same treatment for 14 days. The wound exudation was collected before and after treatment

and the vascular endothelial growth factor（ VEGF）

matrix metalloproteinase 2（ MMP-2） and matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor 1（ TIMP-1） were detected before and after treatment on the 7 th day and the 14 th day of treatment

and the wound healing rate of both groups after treatment were compared. Results The wound healing rate of both groups on the 7 th day treatment was higher than that on the 14 th day of treatment（ P < 0. 05）

and the healing rate of observation group was higher than that of control group on the 7 th day and 14 th day treatment（ P < 0. 05）. After 7 and 14 days of treatment

the levels of VEGF and TIMP-1 in the control group were decreased（ P < 0. 05）

and the content of MMP-2 was increased（ P < 0. 05）. The VEGF and TIMP-1 levels in the observation group were increased more than that in the observation group（ P < 0. 05）

and the content of MMP-2 was decreased（ P < 0. 05）. The levels of VEGF and TIMP-1 in the observation group were increased more than those in the control group at 7 th and 14 th day treatment（ P < 0. 05）

and the content of MMP-2 decreased more than that of the control group（ P < 0. 05）.There was no significant difference in the levels of VEGF

MMP-2 and TIMP-1 between the 2 groups at 14 days after treatment（ P > 0. 05）. Conclusion TCM fumigation treatment can effectively promote the healing of diabetic foot ulcer wounds

which may be related to reducing MMP-2 content and increasing VEGF and TIMP-1 levels in wound exudation.