title: Protective effect of Chinese herbs for supplementing qi, nourishing yin and activating blood circulation on heart function of patients with acute coronary syndrome after percutaneous coronary intervention.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effects of Chinese herbs for supplementing qi, nourishing yin and activating blood circulation on heart function of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) after successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred patients with ACS after successful PCI were randomly assigned to a Western medicine (WM) treatment group (WMG) and a combined treatment group (CMG) treated by Chinese herbs for supplementing qi, nourishing yin and activating blood circulation, besides Western medicine treatment, with 50 cases in each group. Both treatment courses were 6 months. The followup was scheduled at baseline, 6 months and 1 year after PCI, and New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class, Chinese medicine (CM) symptom scores, blood stasis syndrome scores, and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were observed, serum levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and hyper-sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP) were measured, an echocardiogram was conducted to examine left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV), inter-ventricular septal thickness (IVST), left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), and ventricular wall motion index (VWMI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with the baseline, LVEF significantly increased (P<0.01), and CM symptom scores, blood stasis syndrome scores, VWMI, LVEDV, LVESV, NT-proBNP, and Hs-CRP all decreased (P<0.01) in both groups at 6 months and at 1 year after PCI. There were no significant differences in all the above parameters at 1 year vs those at 6 months after PCI (P>0.05). VWMI, LVEDV, LVESV, NT-proBNP, Hs-CRP, LVEF, and CM symptom and blood stasis syndrome scores were all improved obviously in CMG than those in WMG (P<0.05 or P<0.01) at 6 months and at 1 year after PCI. There were no significant differences in NYHA functional class between CMG and WMG at different follow-up timepoints; it was notable that value was 0.054 when comparing the cases of NYHA functional class between the two groups at 1-year follow-up. During the 1-year follow-up, 3 MACE and 11 MACE occurred in CMG and WMG, respectively; the MACE rate in CMG was lower than that in WMG (6% vs 22%, P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chinese herbs for supplementing qi, nourishing yin and activating blood circulation could improve heart function, reduce the CM symptom scores and blood stasis syndrome scores, and decrease the incidence of MACE in patients with ACS after successful PCI.
authors.affiliation: Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing (100091), China.
authors.forename: Hong-ying
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Da-zhuo
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Jun-bo
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Cheng-long
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Pei-li
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000187:drug effects; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006334:Heart Function Tests / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood; D009518:New York; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood; D062645:Percutaneous Coronary Intervention / Q000009:adverse effects; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D019413:Qi; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013577:Syndrome; D014463:Ultrasonography; D016709:Yin-Yang
chemical_list: D002316:Cardiotonic Agents; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; D002097:C-Reactive Protein