Combined Chinese Herbal Medicine Research Articles

Chinese herbal medicine therapy for hyperlipidemic acute pancreatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been widely used in the treatment of hyperlipidemic acute pancreatitis (HLAP), but the credibility of the evidence for this practice is unclear. We systematically reviewed the efficacy and safety of CHM therapy for HLAP. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, CBM, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang databases from inception to October 16, 2022, for randomized controlled trials comparing the combination of CHM and Western medicine therapy vs. Western medicine therapy alone in HLAP adults. This study is registered with PROSPERO (No. CRD 42022371052). A total of 50 eligible studies involving 3,635 patients were assessed in this meta-analysis. Compared with Western medicine therapy, the combination of CHM increased the total effective rate by 19% in HLAP patients [relative risk (RR): 1.19, 95% CI: (1.16, 1.23)]. There were significant differences between the two groups in improving clinical symptoms, promoting serum amylase and triglyceride recovery, reducing mortality [RR: 0.28, 95% CI: (0.14, 0.56)] and complication rates [RR:0.40, 95% CI: (0.31, 0.52)], and shortening the length of hospital stay [MD: -3.96, 95% CI: (-4.76, -3.16)]. Adverse reactions were similar between groups. Findings were robust in the sensitivity analysis. The combined CHM treatment was more effective than Western medicine alone in HLAP patients. However, due to the methodological shortcoming of the eligible studies, caution is needed when interpreting these findings.

Chinese Herbal Medicine for Chemotherapy-Induced Leukopenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Quality Randomized Controlled Trials.

Aim: We conducted a systematic review of high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced leukopenia (CIL). Methods: Eight electronic databases were searched from the date of inception to November 4, 2020 for high-quality RCTs that met the requirements of at least four key domains of the Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) tool. RevMan 5.3 was applied for the meta-analysis. Results: Fourteen RCTs involving 1,053 patients were included. The pooled results showed that CHM + chemotherapy exerted greater beneficial effects on white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil (NEU), hemoglobin (Hb), and platelet (PLT) counts in addition to the Karnofsky performance scale (KPS) score, but showed no significant difference on granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) dosage compared with chemotherapy alone. Placebo (PBO) + chemotherapy and CHM + chemotherapy groups showed no significant differences in terms of reduction of the incidence of neutropenia. CHM + chemotherapy was superior to Western medicine (WM) + chemotherapy in improving the WBC count, KPS, infection amount, G-CSF use rate, and incidence of leukopenia. In addition, no severe adverse events were observed in the 14 RCTs. Conclusion: CHM in combination with chemotherapy could effectively improve the clinical symptoms of CIL when compared with chemotherapy alone or Western medicine + chemotherapy, except when comparing with PBO + chemotherapy. While CHMs were generally safe for clinical use and exerted no severe side effects in the 14 RCTs, high-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes are essential to reduce study heterogeneity.

The effect of comprehensive rehabilitation program plus chemotherapy on quality of life in patients with postoperative non-small-cell lung cancer: study protocol of a multicenter randomized clinical trial

BackgroundComprehensive rehabilitation therapy based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely applied in various cancer treatments in China. Thus far, Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been shown effective in reducing the adverse effects of chemotherapy and improving the quality of life (QoL) during chemotherapy. The purpose of the present study is to compare the effects of CHM plus Liu Zi Jue (LZJ) exercises with CHM plus rehabilitation education and with placebo plus rehabilitation education in patients who have undergone complete resection for nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) followed by postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.Methods and designA multicenter, randomized clinical trial will be performed with 354 stage Ib–IIIa NSCLC patients in five centers in China. Patients satisfying the inclusion criteria will be randomly divided into three groups according to a 1:1:1 ratio: intervention group A (IGA), intervention group B (IGB), and control group (CG). Each group will receive adjuvant platinum-based doublet chemotherapy for a total of four cycles. IGA participants will receive chemotherapy combined with CHM and LZJ exercises, IGB participants will receive chemotherapy combined with CHM and rehabilitation education, and CG participants will receive chemotherapy combined with placebo and rehabilitation education. The herbal treatment patients will be given granules daily and LZJ exercises will be performed four times per week during chemotherapy. The primary outcome is QoL, which will be assessed with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)-QLQ-C43 scale in each cycle. The secondary outcomes include the 2-year disease-free survival rate, disease-free survival, TCM symptoms, tumor markers, safety, and adverse events. After treatment, the patients will be followed up every 3 months within 2 years and every 6 months after 2 years until disease recurrence and/or metastasis.DiscussionOur previous study reported that CHM in combination with chemotherapy could lower the overall incidence of adverse events but increased digestive and gastrointestinal side effects compared with chemotherapy alone in postoperative NSCLC patients. This study will lay a foundation for the effectiveness of chemotherapy with or without a comprehensive rehabilitation program for QoL in patients with postoperative NSCLC.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03372694. Retrospectively registered on 17 December 2018.

The Effect of Chinese Herbal Medicine on Quality of Life and Exercise Tolerance in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has a good effect of alleviating symptoms and improving quality of life and exercise tolerance in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but it wasn't sufficiently valued and promoted because of the lack of evidence-based medical evidence.Aim: To systematically review the effect of CHM on quality of life and exercise tolerance in patients with HFpEF.Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search for Chinese and English studies in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, Wanfang Data, and China Science and Technology Journal Database. Databases were searched using terms relating to or describing CHM, HFpEF and randomized controlled trials, without any exclusion criteria for other types of diseases or disorders. Literature retrieval, data extraction, and risk of bias assessments were performed independently by two investigators. Differences were resolved by consensus. RevMan 5.3.0 was used for data analysis. Quantitative synthesis was used when the included studies were sufficiently homogeneous and subgroup analyses were performed for studies with different sample sizes and blind methods. GRADEpro was used to grade the available evidence to minimize bias in our findings.Results: Seventeen studies with 2,724 patients were enrolled in this review. ROB assessments showed a relatively high selection and performance bias. Meta-analyses showed that compared with conventional western medicine, combined CHM and conventional western medicine could significantly improve 6-min walk distance (MD = 52.13, 95% CI [46.91, 57.34], P < 0.00001), and it seemed to be more effective as compared with combined placebo and conventional western medicine. Similar results were observed for quality of life and the results were better in a larger sample. The GRADEpro showed a very low to moderate level of the available evidence.Conclusion: Combined CHM and conventional western medicine might be effective to improve exercise tolerance and quality of life in HFpEF patients, but new well-designed studies with larger sample size, strict randomization, and clear description about detection and reporting processes are needed to further strengthen this evidence.

A Cohort Study to Examine the Use of Chinese Herbal Medicine in Combination With Conventional Therapies for Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma in China.

Background. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the major malignancies associated with high mortality rates. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) alone, or in combination with conventional therapies (CT), has been widely used for patients with HCC in China. This study aims to explore how integrative therapy (IT) through the combination of CHM and CT affects the survival of patients with intermediate-advanced HCC. Methods. A retrospective cohort study was performed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China. Data of consecutive patients diagnosed with intermediate-advanced HCC and a specific traditional Chinese medicine diagnostic pattern between January 2006 and December 2013 were retrieved from the electronic medical record system at the hospital. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on the therapies used, that is, IT, CHM alone, and CT alone, and the survival times of these patients was compared. Results. A total of 328 patients were included in this study. Median follow-up period was 26.4 months (95% confidence interval [CI] = 22.7-38.9). Median overall survival was 11.0 months for IT, 8.6 months for CHM, and 9.4 months for CT groups (P < .001). The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of death for the IT group was 0.55 (95% CI = 0.38-0.79, P = .001) relative to the CT group and 0.68 (95% CI = 0.52-0.90, P = .007) relative to the CHM group, after adjusting for the factors that impact prognosis. Stratified analysis shows that IT can significantly lower the risk of death, especially for patients with good performance status (PS) and Child-Pugh class A. Conclusions. It was indicated that the integrative approach with combination of CHM and CT might improve survival for patients with intermediate-advanced HCC, especially for patients with good PS and Child-Pugh class A. However, a randomized controlled trial is warranted for a conclusive statement.

Effect of Chinese Herbal Medicine on Male Infertility.

Male infertility normally refers a male's inability to cause pregnancy in a fertile female partner after 1 year of unprotected intercourse. Male infertility in recent years has been attracting increasing interest from public due to the evidence in decline in semen quality. There are many factors contributing to the male infertility including abnormal spermatogenesis; reproductive tract anomalies or obstruction; inadequate sexual and ejaculatory functions; and impaired sperm motility, imbalance in hormone levels, and immune system dysfunction. Although conventional treatments such as medication, surgical operation, and advanced techniques have helped many male with infertility cause pregnancy in their female partners, effectiveness is not satisfactory and associated with adverse effects. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been used to improve male infertility in China for a very long time and has now been increasingly popular in Western countries for treating infertility. In this chapter we summarized recent development in basic research and clinical studies of CHM in treating male infertility. It has showed that CHM improved sperm motility and quality, increased sperm count and rebalanced inadequate hormone levels, and adjusted immune functions leading to the increased number of fertility. Further, CHM in combination with conventional therapies improved efficacy of conventional treatments. More studies are needed to indentify the new drugs from CHM and ensure safety, efficacy, and consistency of CHM.

Oral Chinese herbal medicine in combination with phototherapy for vitiligo: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

AimsThe aim of this study was to assess the effects of oral Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) combined with phototherapy for vitiligo. MethodsWe undertook a meta-analysis of relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and searched eight bibliographic databases from inception to December 2015. ResultsA total of 5 RCTs with 513 participants which assessed the efficacy of oral CHM in combination with narrow-band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) in treating vitiligo were included. The meta-analysis revealed a superior effectiveness in those receiving oral CHM plus NB-UVB when compared to phototherapy alone (risk difference 0.22, 95% confidence interval 0.14 to 0.29, P<0.00001). Only mild adverse events were reported without significant renal or liver function impairment. ConclusionsThe current evidence demonstrates that oral CHM in combination with NB-UVB has a superior effectiveness in terms of repigmentation rate of vitiligo when compared to NB-UVB alone. Although the overall quality of included trials was low, oral CHM in combination with NB-UVB may be an alternative option of treatment for vitiligo. As to safety, there were only mild adverse events reported without significant renal or liver function impairment. However, there is limited available evidence of long-term follow-up and poor methodological quality of the available trials. Well-designed RCTs of adequate length and sample size that include life quality as an outcome are warranted.

Effect of Combination of Chinese Herbal Medicine versus Western Medicine on Mortality in Patients after Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Introduction. Although Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) treatment combined with conventional western therapy has been widely used and reported in many clinical trials in China, there is uncertainty about the efficacy of this combination in the treatment of patients after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). This systematic review aimed to assess whether the risk of mortality has decreased comparing the combination of CHM treatment with conventional western therapy. Methods. To identify relevant studies, the literature search was conducted in Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang database. We included all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared outcomes of patients after CPR taking combination of CHM treatment with those taking just conventional western therapy. Results. This meta-analysis showed that patients randomly assigned to combined CHM treatment group had a statistically significant 23% reduction in mortality compared with those randomly assigned to conventional western therapy group (RR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.70–0.84). Conclusions. This meta-analysis provides evidence suggesting that a combined CHM therapy is associated with a decreased risk of mortality compared with conventional western therapy in patients after CPR. Further studies are needed to provide more evidence to prove or refute our conclusion and identify reasons for the reduction of mortality.

Chinese Herbal Medicines as an Adjunctive Therapy for Unresectable Pancreatic Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Pancreatic cancer is a common malignancy with a high mortality. Most patients present clinically with advanced pancreatic cancer. Moreover, the effect of radiotherapy or chemotherapy is limited. Complementary and alternative medicines represent exciting adjunctive therapies. In this study, we ascertained the beneficial and adverse effects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in combination with conventional therapy for inoperable pancreatic cancer by using meta-analysis methods for controlled clinical trials. We extracted data for studies searched from six electronic databases that were searched and also assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. We evaluated the following outcome measures: 6-month and 1-year survival rate, objective response rate, disease control rate, quality of life, and adverse effects. The final analysis showed CHM is a promising strategy as an adjunctive therapy to treat advanced or inoperable pancreatic cancer and that CHM in combination with conventional therapy is a promising strategy for resistant disease. However, convincing evidence must be obtained and confirmed by high-quality trials in future studies.

Effects of Chinese herbal medicine in combination with mitomycin C on gastric cancer cells.

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is frequently used by cancer patients in Chinese community. It remains largely unknown about the interaction between CHM and chemotherapeutic agents. Herein, we evaluated 3 commonly used CHM formulas for cancer patients: Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang (BZYQT), Bao-Yuan-Tang (BYT), and Ju-Yuan-Jian (JYJ). We examined the effects of these 3 formulas in human gastric cancer cells MKN-74, in terms of cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction when used alone or in combination with mitomycin C (MMC). Cytotoxicity was determined by tetrazolium dye colorimetric assay. The 10% inhibitory concentration of CHM was used in this study. Cells were first exposed to CHM or phosphate buffered saline (as control) for 48 h. Then MMC at final concentration of 0.25 μg/ml was added to media for another 24-h. Among these 3 CHM formulas, BZYQT showed the most pronounced effect in augmenting MMC-induced cytotoxicity. The viability of MKN-74 cells was decreased to 43.1% when treated with BZYQT and MMC, compared to 94.9% with MMC alone. We subsequently examined apoptosis induction by quantitative florescent microscopy and single-strand DNA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and found BZYQT did not enhance MMC-induced apoptosis. Our findings indicate BZYQT in combination with MMC induces cell death in gastric cancer cells via non-apoptotic mechanism. Our results provide a rationale for further investigation in the interaction of CHM and anti-cancer treatment.

Oral Chinese herbal medicine combined with pharmacotherapy for psoriasis vulgaris: a systematic review.

Clinically, oral Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is widely used in the treatment of psoriasis. This review evaluates the effects of oral CHM in combination with pharmacotherapy for psoriasis vulgaris. The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, CNKI, and CQVIP were searched from their inceptions to November 2012. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating CHM plus pharmacotherapy compared to pharmacotherapy were included. Data were analyzed using Review Manager 5.1.0. Seventeen RCTs were included, conducted in China, and employed a diversity of both herbal medicines and pharmacotherapies. When the meta-analyses were restricted to studies that used a well-known pharmacotherapy as the comparator with 60% or greater clinical improvement in psoriasis as the outcome, five studies used oral acitretin, one used topical calcipotriol, and one used topical clobetasol propionate as control interventions. At the end of treatment, there was a benefit for the pooled result of the five studies that compared CHM plus acitretin with acitretin alone and no serious adverse events were reported. However, none of these studies was blind, so there is considerable risk of bias in this result. In addition, there was inadequate reporting of longer-term results, so it remains unclear whether the reported effect could be maintained or whether the prolonged use of the CHM in conjunction with acitretin would be safe. The main plants used in these studies, Rehmannia glutinosa root, Salvia miltiorrhiza root, and Lithospermum erythrorhizon root, have shown anti-inflammatory and/or antiproliferative effects in experimental studies. These actions may at least partially explain the observed results.

Investigation on Chinese herbal medicine for primary dysmenorrhea: Implication from a nationwide prescription database in Taiwan

Primary dysmenorrhea is a common gynecological condition, for which Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been widely used in addition to western medicine. The aim of this study is to explore CHM commonly used to treat dysmenorrhea in young Chinese women. Observational retrospective study. The National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Women aged from 13 to 25 years with single diagnosis of primary dysmenorrhea. CHM prescriptions made for primary dysmenorrhea women during 1998-2008 were extracted to build up CHM prescription database. Association rule mining was used to explore the prevalent CHM combination patterns in treating primary dysmenorrhea. Prevalence and mechanisms of CHM combinations. Totally 57,315 prescriptions were analyzed and, on average, 5.3 CHM was used in one prescription. Dang-Gui-Shao-Yao-San (DGSYS) was the most commonly used herbal formula (27.2%), followed by Jia-Wei-Xiao-Yao-San (JWXYS) (20.7%) and Wen-Jing-Tang (WJT) (20.5%). Corydalis yanhusuo and Cyperus rotundus were the most commonly used single herb, found in 33.1% and 29.2% of all prescriptions. Additionally, C. yanhusuo with C. rotundus is the most commonly used two CHM in combination, accounting for 14.24% of all prescriptions, followed by DGSYS with C. yanhusuo (10.47%). Multi-target effects on primary dysmenorrhea, such as analgesia, mood modifying and hormone adjustment, were found among commonly prescribed CHM in this study. This study discovered the potential importance of C. yanhusuo, C. rotundus and DGSYS in treating primary dysmenorrhea. Further clinical trials or bench studies are warranted based on the results.

The Efficacy of Chinese Herbal Medicine as an Adjunctive Therapy for Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Many published studies reflect the growing application of complementary and alternative medicine, particularly Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) use in combination with conventional cancer therapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but its efficacy remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of CHM combined with conventional chemotherapy (CT) in the treatment of advanced NSCLC. Publications in 11 electronic databases were extensively searched, and 24 trials were included for analysis. A sum of 2,109 patients was enrolled in these studies, at which 1,064 patients participated in CT combined CHM and 1,039 in CT (six patients dropped out and were not reported the group enrolled). Compared to using CT alone, CHM combined with CT significantly increase one-year survival rate (RR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.15–1.60, p = 0.0003). Besides, the combined therapy significantly increased immediate tumor response (RR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.19–1.56, p<1.0E−5) and improved Karnofsky performance score (KPS) (RR = 2.90, 95% CI = 1.62–5.18, p = 0.0003). Combined therapy remarkably reduced the nausea and vomiting at toxicity grade of III–IV (RR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.12–0.50, p = 0.0001) and prevented the decline of hemoglobin and platelet in patients under CT at toxicity grade of I–IV (RR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.51–0.80, p<0.0001). Moreover, the herbs that are frequently used in NSCLC patients were identified. This systematic review suggests that CHM as an adjuvant therapy can reduce CT toxicity, prolong survival rate, enhance immediate tumor response, and improve KPS in advanced NSCLC patients. However, due to the lack of large-scale randomized clinical trials in the included studies, further larger scale trials are needed.

Chinese herbal medicine for schizophrenia

Chinese herbal medicine has been used to treat millions of people with schizophrenia for thousands of years. To evaluate Chinese herbal medicine as a treatment for schizophrenia. A systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Seven trials were included. Most studies evaluated Chinese herbal medicine in combination with Western antipsychotic drugs; in these trials results tended to favour combination treatment compared with antipsychotic alone (Clinical Global Impression ;not improved/worse' n=123, RR=0.19, 95% CI 0.1-0.6, NNT=6,95% CI 5-11; n=109, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale ;not improved/worse' RR=0.78,95% CI 0.5-1.2; n=109, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms ;not improved/worse' RR=0.87,95% CI 0.7-1.2; n=109, Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms ;not improved/worse' RR=0.69,95% CI 0.5-1.0, NNT=6 95% CI 4-162). Medium-term study attrition was significantly less for people allocated the herbal/antipsychotic mix (n=897, four RCTs, RR=0.34,95% CI 0.2-0.7, NNT=23,95% CI18-43). Results suggest that combining Chinese herbal medicine with antipsychotics is beneficial.

Chinese herbal medicine for schizophrenia.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was the main form of treatment in China for psychiatric illnesses until the development of antipsychotic drugs in the 1950's. Antipsychotic drugs have become the primary intervention for schizophrenia, although herbal medicines can still form part of the treatment. To review Chinese herbal medicine, used alone or as part of a TCM approach, for people with schizophrenia and related psychoses. We undertook electronic searches of the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's register (December 2003), the Traditional Chinese Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval Database (TCMLARS) (October 2003), Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) (December 2003), China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (May 2004), Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) (December 2003). We contacted the Chinese Cochrane Centre, the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field and first authors of included studies and inspected reference lists for additional studies. We included all relevant randomised controlled trials involving people with schizophrenia-like illnesses, allocated to Chinese herbal medicine, including any Chinese herbs (single or mixture), compared with placebo/no treatment or antipsychotic drugs. We independently extracted data and calculated fixed effects relative risk (RR), the 95% confidence intervals (CI) for homogeneous dichotomous data, and, where appropriate, the number needed to treat (NNT) on an intention-to-treat basis. For continuous data, we calculated weighted mean differences (WMD). Only one small trial of the seven included studies truly evaluated TCM for schizophrenia. The other trials evaluated Chinese herbs for schizophrenia. We found one study comparing Chinese herbal medicine with antipsychotic drugs. Data for the global state outcome 'no change/worse' favoured people allocated to antipsychotic medication (n=90, RR 1.88 CI 1.2 to 2.9, NNH 4 CI 2 to 12). Six trials compared Chinese herbal medicine in combination with antipsychotic with antipsychotic drugs alone. One trial found global state 'not improved/worse' favoured the herbal medicine/antipsychotic combination (n=123, RR 0.19 CI 0.1 to 0.6, NNT 6 CI 5 to 11). Two studies (n=103) also found short-term data from the Clinical Global Impression scale favoured the herbal medicine plus antipsychotic group (WMD -0.46 CI -0.9 to -0.1) compared with those given only antipsychotics. Significantly fewer people in the experimental group left the study early compared with those given antipsychotics alone (n=1004, 6 RCTs, RR 0.30 CI 0.16 to 0.58, NNT 21 CI 18 to 35). Reports of constipation were significantly lower in the treatment group compared to those receiving antipsychotics (n=67, 1 RCT, RR 0.03 CI 0.0 to 0.5, NNH 2 CI 2 to 4). Chinese herbal medicines, given in a Western biomedical context, may be beneficial for people with schizophrenia when combined with antipsychotics. Traditional Chinese medicine is also under-evaluated, but results from one pioneering study that attempted to evaluate TCM should encourage further trials.

Observation on efficacy of CT positioning scalp circum-needling combined with Chinese herbal medicine in treating poly-infarctional vascular dementia

To observe the short-term effect of patients with poly-infarctional vascular dementia (PIVD) treated by CT positioning scalp circum-needling (SCN) combined with Chinese herbal medicine. Eighty-nine patients of PIVD were enrolled and divided into the treated group (n = 57) and the control group (n = 32). They were all treated with oral taking of Fuyuan mixture (FYM, consisted of ginseng, medlar, salvia, bitter cardamon, etc). To the treated group, SCN was applied additionally with the unilateral area around the reflecting region (localized by CT) in scalp as main needling points and Ganshu, Shenshu, Zusanli, Hegu as supplementary points. Two courses of SCN were performed. The changes of clinical symptoms, intelligence and hemorrheological characteristics in patients were analysed. After two courses of treatment, the total effective rate in the treated group was 96.5%, which was better than that in the control group (75.0%), with significant difference (u = 2.423, P < 0.01); HDS scores increased in both groups after treatment, showing significant difference as compared with that before treatment (P < 0.01), hemorrheologic parameters were also apparently improved. CT positioning SCN combined Chinese herbal medicine treatment has definite therapeutic effect in treating PIVD.