Therapeutic effect in patients with coronary heart disease based on information analysis from traditional Chinese medicine four diagnostic methods.

OBJECTIVE

To study information gained by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) four diagnostic methods and characteristics of syndrome development before and after treatment in patients with coronary heart disease, and to probe into assessment indexes of therapeutic effects with distinctive TCM features.

METHODS

Information from the four diagnostic methods before and after treatment in 100 patients with coronary heart disease was collected using the TCM interrogation scale, a pulse condition instrument, a tongue-face diagnosis instrument, and a voice diagnosis information collection system. Changes in the four diagnostic method results from before and after treatment were analyzed with frequency analysis and t-test methods.

RESULTS

Before treatment, deficiency syndrome complicated with hyperactivity of pathogenic factors was most common. After treatment, deficiency syndrome was most common. This change from complex syndromes to single syndromes indicates disease and syndrome alleviation. Frequencies of symptoms gained by interrogation after treatment for syndrome of deficiency of heart-Qi, syndrome of deficiency of heart-Yin, and turbid phlegm syndrome were all less severe than those before treatment. Parameters of face color, color on all sub-regions of tongue, color of tongue fur, septic and greasy fur, and lip color after treatment all had significant changes. After treatment, part of the voice diagnosis parameters in the deficiency of heart-Yin and turbid phlegm syndromes had significant changes, but no significant changes were found in the deficiency of heart-Qi syndrome.

CONCLUSION

Use of the TCM four diagnostic methods can provide an effective basis for TCM syndrome diagnosis, observation of development of state of illness, and evaluation of clinical therapeutic effects.