Clinical Characteristics and Chinese Medicine Therapy of Chronic Kidney Disease Combined with Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a serious public health concern worldwide. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in CKD patients. CKD combined with CVD (CKD-CVD) is a common disease with a poor prognosis. Modern medicine for the treatment of CKD-CVD currently focuses on controlling the traditional risk factors of CVD. However, its efficacy is lower than expected, and revascularization shows no notable benefit to patients. The reason for this unsatisfactory clinical outcome is that CKD-CVD has a specific pathophysiological mechanism and atypical clinical presentation. Due to the inadequacy of the therapeutic effects of modern medicine, Chinese medicine (CM) is recommended to delay disease progression. CM is widely used to treat CKD. Furthermore, some theoretical and clinical explorations on the CM treatments of CKD-CVD have been undertaken in recent years. However, clinical trials on the long-term effects of CM on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with CKD is lacking, especially studies on combined cardiac and renal endpoints. This article summarises the clinical characteristics and main treatments of CKD-CVD. Besides, based on CM theory, it is proposed that a deficiency of the spleen and kidney Qi, water dampness, dampness turbidity, and blood stasis contribute to the pathogenesis of CKD-CVD, treatment should focus on tonifying the spleen and kidney Qi, supplemented by smoothing the triple energizer, detoxification, and activation of blood circulation. In order to provide some reference for the combined treatment of Chinese and Western medicine for CKD-CVD.