The Study And Sorting The Seholarship And Experience Of Professor Lan Qingqiang Treating Chronic Liver Disease With Traditional Chinese Medicine

Part1Academic thoughts and clinical experience of Professor Qing-qiang LanThe experience of Prof. Lan in treating chronic liver disease is summarized. He believes that, in the realm of traditional Chinese medicine, the development of chronic liver disease is associated with visceral deficiency, blood stasis, phlegm congealing, and pathogen invasion. Therefore, the principles for treating chronic liver disease are to soothe the liver, harmonize the stomach, tonify the kidney, replenish qi and nourish blood to expel water and resolve stasis. Based on these principles, he developed an empirical therapy which was found to produce good efficacy for the treatment of chronic liver disease. Part2Clinical translation of Professor Qing-qiang Lan’s academic thoughtsObjective:To assess the efficacy of an empirical therapy developed by Professor Lan for the treatment of portal hypertension (PH). Methods:Seventy five patients with PH were randomized to receive the empirical therapy or propranolol. Patients were observed for changes in symptoms, liver function, hepatic fibrosis, hemodynamics, imaging, and quality of life.Results:Overall, a significantly higher proportion of patients responded to the empirical therapy than to propranolol (85.34%vs.66.35%, P<0.05). The scores of flank pain, fatigue and sluggishness were significantly decreased after initiation of the empirical therapy (P<0.01or P<0.05). The empirical therapy was more effective than propranolol in improving fatigue (P<0.05). The empirical therapy was associated with significantly decreased IV-IC (P<0.05), significantly increased ALB (P<0.05) and significantly reduced DSV, PVF and SVF (P<0.01). Compared with patients on propranolol, those treated empirically had significantly lower DSV, PVF and SVF (P<0.01or P<0.05). In patients treated with the empirical therapy, there was a significant decrease in the diameter of the portal vein and the splenic vein (P<0.05), and a significant increase in the physical, psychological, social relationship, environmental domain and total scores (P<0.01or P<0.05) after the start of the treatment. Patients receiving the empirical therapy showed significantly greater improvement in the physical and psychological domains compared with those receiving propranolol (P<0.05).Conclusions:The empirical therapy developed by Professor Lan appears to be efficacious for the treatment portal hypertension due to cirrhosis.