Lead author Eric Peterson, MD, MPH, professor of internal medicine, vice provost, and senior associate dean for clinical research at UT Southwestern, holds the Adeline and Edmund M. Hoffman Distinguished Chair in Medical Sciences .
DALLAS – October 31, 2023 – A traditional Chinese medicine with a name meaning “opening the heart network” can help prevent heart attacks, death, and other major cardiovascular complications for at least one year after the first heart attack. reduced the risk of That’s according to a study led by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The survey results are Japan Automobile Manufacturers Associationrevealed the promise of this compound, which was one of the first traditional Chinese medicines to be tested in a large-scale Western-style clinical trial.
“Many of the drugs in use today were first recognized through research into natural and home remedies. The exact active ingredients and mechanism of action of this traditional Chinese medicine that confers these benefits are unknown. “However, it does lead us to explore and improve this treatment,” said lead author Eric Peterson, MD, MPH, professor of internal medicine. Vice Provost and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research at UT Southwestern. Dr. Peterson conducted the study in collaboration with Ying Xiang, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology at UTSW’s Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health, and colleagues at several universities and hospitals in China.
Made with extracts from seven herbs and animals, including cockroach, scorpion, cicada, centipede, and leech, Tongxinluo has long been a traditional Chinese therapy for treating patients who have experienced heart attacks and strokes. It has been used. Based on promising results in cell and animal models, China’s National Food and Drug Administration approved its use in angina and stroke in 1996. However, the drug had never been evaluated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, the rigorous testing required to approve most drug treatments in the United States and Europe.
Ying Xiang, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology at UTSW’s Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health, collaborated on the study with colleagues from several universities and hospitals in China.
For the study, researchers studied 3,777 patients at 124 clinical centers in China who suffered from ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, the most severe type of heart attack. In this myocardial infarction, a blood clot completely blocks the main blood vessels that supply the heart. May 23, 2019 and December 8, 2020. These patients were treated with surgical or chemical removal of the thrombus within hours of onset. They then received standard treatment for a year, including daily aspirin and medications including beta-blockers, but half of the patients were also randomized to receive Tongxinluo. The other half received a placebo designed to match the look, smell, and taste of traditional Chinese medicine.
Over the next year, health care workers followed these patients regularly to track the incidence of adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE). MACCE is a collective term that combines cardiac death, repeated heart attacks, stroke, and emergency procedures to restore blood flow to the heart. Results showed that at day 30, MACCE was approximately 30% lower in the group receiving concentric screw compared to the group receiving placebo. These benefits persisted for 1 year after discharge. Patients receiving Concentric also had a reduced risk of individual components of MACCE, including a 25% reduction in risk of cardiac death. Tongxinluo had no serious side effects, suggesting that its use is safe.
Dr. Xian said that because concentric screws are composed of multiple components, further research will focus on identifying the causes of these effects and how they reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications in the body. He said he should guess. Additionally, the benefits of this study must be replicated in other populations for this treatment to gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A similar Chinese clinical trial is underway to test the safety and efficacy of Concentric Spiral for patients with mild ischemic stroke.
“Many medicines have not been able to achieve as impressive an effect as this traditional Chinese medicine,” Dr. Xiang said.I’m an investigator. Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute. “The Silla deserves further study.”
Dr. Peterson holds the Adeline and Edmund M. Hoffman Distinguished Chair in Medical Sciences.
This study was funded by a research grant from the China National Key Research and Development Program (2017YFC1700503) and Shijiazhuang Yilin Pharmacology Co., Ltd.
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern is one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, combining pioneering biomedical research with outstanding clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty have won six Nobel Prizes, including 26 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 20 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. There is. Our more than 3,100 full-time faculty members are responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and are committed to rapidly translating science-driven research into new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care to more than 120,000 inpatients, more than 360,000 emergency patients, and oversee nearly 5 million outpatient visits annually in more than 80 specialties.
