Search

Background. There was limited evidence of treatments aiming at aged coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. Yanyu decoction (YD) has been used as adjuvant therapy in aged patients with stable CAD and might be a new treatment worthy of recommendation for CAD patients. This study was to evaluate the combined effects of YD plus conventional pharmaceutical treatment (CPT) on senile patients with stable CAD. Methods. This review was designed according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reported Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) recommendations. A literature search was conducted in seven electronic databases from their inception until August 2020. Primary outcomes of interest were adverse cardiovascular events, including cardiac mortality, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and unstable angina (UA). The secondary outcomes were blood lipids and hemorheology. Studies were pooled to calculate the risk ratio or weighted mean difference and corresponding 95% confidence interval. Results. Five studies recruiting 848 aged patients with stable CAD were included. Patients receiving YD as an adjuvant have fewer adverse cardiovascular events, including cardiac mortality, AMI, and UA. Besides, YD plus CPT has a better effect on reducing triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and improving high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Moreover, significant effects of YD plus CPT for reducing blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, and platelet aggregation rate were found compared with CPT alone. Conclusion. YD plus CPT showed better efficacy than CPT on reducing adverse cardiovascular events and improving hemorheology and blood lipids for aged patients with stable CAD. Our findings may suggest YD as an adjuvant natural-based treatment for CAD. However, more rigorous and larger trials are essential to validate our results, and further consideration of CAD studies specific to aged patients is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Yunnan Baiyao (YNBY) is a traditional Chinese medicine used to treat bleeding. We evaluated the efficacy of YNBY plus conventional pharmaceutical treatment (CPT) versus CPT alone in patients with hemoptysis. Methods. A total of eight electronic databases were searched. The outcomes in the included studies were effective rate, hemoptysis volume, duration of hemoptysis and hospitalization, number of cases requiring endotracheal intubation, and adverse events (AEs). The studies were used to calculate risk ratios (RRs) or mean differences (MDs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Risk of bias for included trials was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results. Thirteen RCTs were analyzed consisting of a total of 1379 patients. Treatment with YNBY + CPT had a greater effective rate than CPT alone (RR: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.13 to 1.23; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 0%), a lower hemoptysis volume (MD: −107.37; 95% CI: −121.69 to −93.06; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 0%), a shorter duration of hemoptysis (MD: −2.70; 95% CI: −2.96 to 2.43; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 0%) and hospitalization (MD: −2.38; 95% CI: −2.93 to −1.83; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 9%), and a reduction in the incidence of AEs (RR: 0.34; 95% CI: 0.23 to 0.51; P < 0.001 ; I2 = 0%). YNBY + CPT treatment provided no significant difference in reducing the number of cases requiring endotracheal intubation compared to CPT alone (RR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.15 to 1.60; P = 0.24 ; I2 = 0%). Conclusion. YNBY plus CPT showed better efficacy than CPT for patients with hemoptysis. Our study provides medical evidence for the efficacy and safety of YNBY for hemoptysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) has gradually been promoted in clinical practice to lower the risk of cardiovascular surgery and postoperative complications. We investigated the role of IPC on vascular endothelial function and the relationship between IPC, flow-mediated dilation (FMD), and brachial artery diameter (BAD). Methods. Systematic searches were conducted in PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Scopus databases from their inception to March 20, 2020. This research included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with adults, and the values of FMD and BAD were considered as the primary outcomes. Ten studies comprising 292 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Results. Regarding FMD, we observed beneficial effects of IPC on endothelial function (standardized mean difference (SMD): 1.82; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64, 3.01; p < 0.001 ; I2 = 89.9%). However, the available evidence did not indicate that IPC affected BAD (SMD: 0.08; 95% CI: −0.03, 0.18; p > 0.05 ; I2 = 76.5%). Conclusions. Our meta-analysis indicated a significant effect of IPC on the endothelial function of the blood vessels, affecting FMD but not BAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]