Traditional Chinese Medicine for Treatment of Chronic Heart Failure

Heart failure (HF) can be defined as an abnormality of cardiac structure or function leading to failure of heart to deliver oxygen at a rate commensurate with the requirements of the metabolizing tissues, despite normal filling pressures (or only at the expense of increased filling pressures). And according to the nature of the clinical presentation, HF is divided into acute or chronic HF.

In 2003, a random sample survey of 15,518 urban or rural residents between 35 and 74 years old was made in China: the prevalence rate of heart failure was 0.9%, and according to the result, there was about 4,000,000 HF subjects in China.

In China, the integrative treatment of western and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for HF is common and has been developed as a treatment model. TCM has been used in China and other south and east Asia countries for thousands of years. Syndrome differentiation and treatment variation are the basic principles in understanding and treatment of diseases. Investigators would like to test the hypothesis that it is efficacy and safety for patients to take TCM granules according to syndrome differentiation.

The specific aims for the study were to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TCM in treating chronic heart failure (CHF).

Inclusion criteria

• The basic primary heart disease is coronary heart disease ( with diagnosis for coronary heart disease : confirmed by coronary angiography; confirmed by coronary CT; history of acute myocardial infarction; limb-salvage Q wave for ECG; ecg ECG test and radionuclide examination support, etc.); no history of hypertension or taking antihypertensive drugs, with blood pressure under 160/100 mmHg.
• With a history of coronary heart disease, symptoms and signs; with difficult breathing, fatigue and fluid retention (edema); with left ventricular enlargement, end systolic volume of left ventricular increase and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 40; with New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classificationⅡ or Ⅲ.
• Male or female subjects between 40 and 75 years old;

Exclusion criteria

• Serious valvular heart disease, pericardial disease, cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, acute myocardial infarction ( within 4 weeks), cardiac shock, acute myocarditis or serious arrhythmia with the variation of hemodynamics.
• Pulmonary artery hypertension caused by pulmonary heart disease, acute or chronic pulmonary embolism, or stroke within a half year.
• Serious hepatic insufficiency ( the index of liver function being 2 times of normal one), renal insufficiency (Ccr>20%, Scr>3mg/dl or 265 μmol/L), diseases of blood system, malignant tumor, diabetes mellitus with serious complications, hyperthyroid or hypothyroid.
• Infection: fever; the numeration of leukocyte being more than 10×109/L, the percentage of neutrophile granulocyte being more than 85%; patchy shadows in X ray of Chest, meeting one of the above three.
• Pregnancy or lactation; mental disease and infectious disease patients.
• Take part in other trials within two months.