Clinical Study on Effect of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Supplementing Kidney and Qi and Activating Blood Circulation in Treating Intrauterine Growth Retardation of Fetus

Objective: To explore the therapeutic effect and the possible working mechanism in using Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for supplementing Kidney and Qi, and activating blood circulation in treating intrauterine growth retardation of fetus (IUGR). Methods: Fifty-five cases of IUGR were divided into two groups, 30 cases in the CHM group treated with CHM and the 25 in the control group treated with amino acids. The effect of CHM treatment was observed and compared with that of the control group, normal pregnancy group and non-treated IUGR group. Results: Body weight of the newborns in the CHM was markedly higher than that in the control group. Not only the maternal fundal height (FH) and the abdominal circumference (AC), but also the fetal growth parameters, including biparietal diameter, head circumference (HC), and femur length (FL) in the CHM group increased much faster than those in the control group. After CHM treatment, the maternal serum levels of estriol (E3) and human placental lactogen (hPL) approached to those in the normal pregnancy group, but the control group,in comparison with the normal pregnancy group, was significantly different. The umbilical venous plasma concentration of essential amino acids in both treated groups improved, but the improvement in the CHM group was more significant than that in the control group. No apparent adverse effect of CHM was observed in either mother or fetus.Conclusion: CHM for supplementing Kidney and Qi and activating blood circulation was more effective in improving placental function and enhancing amino acid transportation than amino acid

Long-Term Follow-Up of Chinese Herbal Medicines Combined with Conventional Treatment in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective： To evaluate the prognosis effect of Chinese herbal medicines（CHMs） for benefiting qi and activating blood circulation adjunctive to conventional treatment in patients with acute coronary syndrome（ACS） after percutaneous coronary intervention（PCI）. Methods： A total of 702 patients with ACS who underwent PCI were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive conventional treatment plus CHMs for benefiting qi and activating blood circulation（treatment group, 351 cases） or conventional treatment alone（control group, 351 cases） for 6 months. Six months later, all patients received conventional treatment alone. Follow-ups were scheduled at 6th, 12 th, 18 th, 24 th month after enrollment in April 2008, and the final follow-up visit was during September 2011 and November 2011. The primary endpoint was the composite of cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction or revascularization（PCI or coronary artery bypass grafting）; and the secondary endpoint was the composite of re-admission for ACS, congestive heart failure, nonfatal stroke or other thrombus events. Results： A total of 621（88.59%） patients completed 35.4±3.8 months follow-up, while 80（11.41%） patients withdrew from the trial（41 in the treatment group and 39 in the control group）. The incidence of primary endpoint was 5.7%（20 patients） in the treatment group versus 10.86%（38 patients） in the control group [relative risk（RR）： 0.53; 95% confidence interval（CI）： 0.30, 0.88; P=0.013; absolute risk reduction（ARR）： –0.052, 95% CI： –0.06, 0.01]. The incidence of secondary endpoint was 5.98%（21 patients） in the treatment group versus 10.28%（36 patients） in control group（RR： 0.58, 95% CI： 0.33, 0.97, P=0.037; ARR： –0.043, 95% CI： 0.06, 0.01）. Most of the primary and secondary endpoints were occurred in 18 months（84.50% in the treatment group versus 78.10% in the control group）. Conclusion： CHMs for benefiting qi and activating blood circulation adjunctive to conventional treatment improved clinical outcomes for patients with ACS after PCI in long-term follow-up.