The theory of 'Du' in heart failure and the detoxification treatment of Chinese medicine: a review

Heart failure is the end of many kinds of cardiovascular diseases, which seriously affects human's health and brings heavy economic burden to the society. The integrated traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine treatment for heart failure has been proved to be effective. In recent years, the understanding of the pathogenesis of heart failure from the respect of Chinese medicine has continued to be innovated, and "Du" plays an evil role in the progression of heart failure. Inflammation and oxidative stress turn into the focus of the researches on the accumulated physiological mechanisms of heart failure. In this paper, we reviewed the theoretical origins of "Du" in Chinese medicine, summarized the understanding of "Du" in heart failure by different schools of Chinese medicine, introduced the progress of research on inflammation, immunity and oxidative stress in the development of heart failure, and analyzed the mechanism of Chinese medicine in treating heart failure by regulating inflammation, immunity and anti-oxidative stress. We hope to provide some new clues and references for the further researches on the integration of Chinese medicine and Western medicine in heart failure.