OBJECTIVE

To observe the therapeutic effect of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine (TCM-WM) in treating dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

METHODS

Patients of DCM were randomly divided into two groups, the 164 patients in the TCM-WM group were treated with combination therapy of traditional Chinese and western medicine, consisting of conventional western medicine, such as cardiac diuretic, vasodilative agents, taurine, coenzyme Q10, antiarrhythmics, beta blockers and Chinese herbal preparations such as Astragalus membranaceus and Shengmai injection; while the 156 cases in the control group were treated with conventional western medicine alone, including polarized liquid therapy, etc.

RESULTS

The improvement of clinical symptoms and heart function in the TCM-WM group was significantly better than that in the control group. Although the total number of deceased cases in the two groups were similar, the dead number in 3-6 months in the TCM-WM group was less than that in the control group. Moreover, 1 year later, the deceased number of patients insisted with TCM-WM treatment for over 1 year was significantly less than in those treated for only 3-6 months (1 case vs 11 cases).

CONCLUSIONS

Under the condition that there is no specific effective drugs, TCM-WM therapy can yet be regarded as an acceptable therapy for treatment of dilated cardiomyopathy.