Effects and Perspectives of Chinese Patent Medicines for Tonifying Qi and Promoting Blood Circulation on Patients with Cerebral Infarction

Background And Objectives: Stroke is a disease with high morbidity, disability, and fatality. Since ischemic stroke is the most common kind of stroke, increasing attention has been paid to its prevention and treatment. Given the limitations of conventional medicine, there is growing interest in Chinese Medicine (CM), especially Chinese Patent Medicine (CPM) for its convenience and stability. Studies of CM show that Chinese Patent Medicines for Tonifying Qi and Promoting Blood Circulation (CPMs-TQPBC) are one of the most common and effective categories of all clinical CPMs in China.

Methods: This review investigated and summarized the randomized controlled trials (RCT) of CPMs-TQPBC combined with conventional interventions in the last 10 years.

Results: Trial results demonstrated the potential in reducing the endpoints and improving neurologic impairments, body movements, Barthel index, quality of life, and certain biomarkers. Furthermore, certain CM syndromes were alleviated with rare adverse events. Advantages of interventions combined with CPMs-TQPBC for patients with cerebral infarction were discovered. Compared with the Chinese patent medicines for promoting blood circulation (CPMs-PBC) alone, CPMs for both tonifying qi and promoting blood circulation exhibited noticeably better effects. The underlying reasons could be related to the improvement of microcirculation in the brain, protection against ischemic reperfusion injury, generation of neuroprotective factors, and inhibition of apoptosis.

Conclusion: Under the circumstances of qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome (QDBSS) (Qixu-Xueyu Zheng), CPMs- TQPBC showed a substantial difference. More trials focusing on specific patient groups should be carried out to corroborate and expand the findings.