[Study on effect of Astragalus injection in treating congestive heart failure].
OBJECTIVE
To observe the clinical efficacy and side-effects of Astragalus Injection (AI) in treating congestive heart failure (CHF).


METHODS
Eighty-three patients of CHF with heart function of II-IV grade assessed by NYHA (New York Heart Association) classification were randomly divided into 2 groups. The 42 patients in the treated group were treated with AI 40 ml (equivalent to 80 g crude drug) by adding in 5% glucose solution 500 ml for intravenous dripping, once a day and the 41 patients in the control group were treated by nitrolingual injection 15 mg by adding in 5% glucose solution 500 ml for intravenous dripping once a day. The therapeutic course in both groups was 2 weeks and the patients were followed-up for 1-6 months.


RESULTS
The clinical heart function improvement rate and the total effective rate in the treated group after 1 month treatment were 26.2% and 78.6%, and after 6 months were 34.2% and 81.6% respectively, which were superior to those in the control group significantly (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The levels of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), fractional shortening of left ventricular short axis (FS), the ratio of maximum blood flow between the advanced and early atrial systole (E/A), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO) and the cardiac index (CI) were all improved in both groups (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), but better improvement was shown in the treated group. Follow-up study showed that the incidence of cardiac event was lower in the treated group than that in the control group (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
AI can be took as one of the important auxiliary drugs for treatment of CHF especially in severe cases.
Zhou
Z L
ZL
Third People's Hospital, Hangzhou 310009.
Yu
P
P
Lin
D
D
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D027883:Astragalus Plant / Q000009:adverse effects; D027885:Astragalus propinquus; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000187:drug effects; D004071:Digitalis Glycosides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000187:drug effects
D004071:Digitalis Glycosides; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C027492:Huang Qi