Innovative Strategy in Treating Angina Pectoris with Chinese Patent Medicines by Promoting Blood Circulation and Removing Blood Stasis: Experience from Combination Therapy in Chinese Medicine.

Abstract

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Moreover, angina pectoris is one of the most important types of CHD. Therefore, prevention and effective treatment of angina pectoris is of utmost importance in both China and western countries. However, undesirable effects of antianginal therapy do influence treatment adherence to a certain extent. Therefore, it's not surprising that, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), including Chinese medicine (CM), are widely welcomed among patients with CHD, hoping that it might complement western medicine. In our previous studies, blood stasis syndrome (BSS) (Xueyu Zheng) was the main syndrome (Zheng-hou) of angina pectoris. Currently, China Food and Drug Administration authoritatively recommended more than 200 Chinese patent medicines (CPMs) as complementary or adjunctive therapies for symptom management and enhancing quality of life along with mainstream care on angina pectoris management in mainland China. This paper reviewed 4 kinds of most frequently-used CPMs by promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis in the treatment of angina pectoris. It aims to evaluate the current evidence of CPMs in combination therapy for angina pectoris. This review indicated that CPMs as adjunctive treatment to routine antianginal therapy play an active role in reducing the incidence of primary endpoint events, decreasing anginal attack rate, and improving electrocardiogram. Additionally, CPMs have been proven relatively safe. Further rigorously designed clinical trials should be conducted to confirm the results.

• Authors: Xing-Jiang Xiong, Zhong Wang, Jie Wang
• Journal: Current vascular pharmacology (Curr Vasc Pharmacol) Vol. 13 Issue 4 Pg. 540-53 ( 2015) ISSN: 1875-6212 [Electronic] United Arab Emirates
• PMID: 25360837 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers
• Cardiovascular Agents
• Drugs, Chinese Herbal

Topics

• Angina Pectoris (blood, drug therapy, physiopathology)
• Biomarkers (blood)
• Blood Circulation (drug effects)
• Blood Coagulation (drug effects)
• Cardiovascular Agents (administration & dosage, therapeutic use)
• Drug Therapy, Combination
• Drugs, Chinese Herbal (administration & dosage, therapeutic use)
• Humans
• Medicine, Chinese Traditional (methods)
• Treatment Outcome