[Clinical study on buyang huanwu decoction to the metabolic imbalance of endothelin and calcitonin gene related peptide in patients with early cerebral infarction].

OBJECTIVE

To explore the mechanism of Buyang Huanwu Decoction (BHD) in treating early cerebral infarction.

METHODS

Seventy cases with early cerebral infarction were randomly divided into two groups. Chinese medicine group (CMG, n = 35) was treated with BHD; western medicine group (WMG, n = 35) was treated with hydroxyethyl starch injection and enteric coated aspirin tablets. The levels of endothelin (ET) and calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) in plasma before and after treatment and the results of clinical treatment were observed, and also controlled with healthy subjects.

RESULTS

The levels of ET before treatment in both patient groups were significantly higher than that of the healthy subjects (P < 0.001), and the levels of CGRP were significantly lower (P < 0.001). After treatment the metabolic imbalance of ET and CGRP improved significantly in both treatment groups (in CMG P < 0.001; in WMG (P < 0.01), but the ET and CGRP in CMG improved more obviously than those in WMG (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). The marked effective and cure rate of CMG was higher than that of WMG (68.6% vs 31.4%; chi 2 = 9.65, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

BHD could improve the metabolic imbalance of ET and CGRP in patients with early cerebral infarction and by this mechanism it was able to treat cerebral infarction.