Objective: To explore the relationship of Chinese medicine syndromes with heart function and peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) count in patients with ischemic heart failure (IHF).
Methods: Clinical materials of 208 inpatients with IHF were collected and the characteristics of their Chinese medicine syndromes were summarized, the number of PBSC was counted with flow cytometer, and the differences of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and PBSC count related to various syndrome factors and syndrome types were compared using One-way ANOVA.
Results: LVEF >50% was found in patients with syndromes of qi-deficiency, yin-deficiency, turbid-phlegm and blood-stasis, while <50% in those of yang-deficiency and fluid-retention, showing significant differences between the former four syndromes and the latter two syndromes. Compared them with syndromes of qi-deficiency, yin-deficiency, turbid-phlegm and blood-stasis, NT-proBNP in the yang deficiency group and water retention group was higher (P<0.01); the PBSC count in patients with yang-deficiency syndrome factor was the least, which was significantly different to that in patients with the former four syndromes (P<0.01, P<0.05), but it was insignificantly different to that with water-retention; LVEF >50% in syndrome types of Xin-Fei qi-deficiency, deficiency of qi and yin, qi-deficiency with blood-stasis and phlegm accumulation in Fei, but <50% in syndrome types of Xin-Shen yang-deficiency and yang-deficiency with water-retention. Compared them with syndrome types of Xin-Fei qi-deficiency, deficiency of qi and yin, qi-deficiency with blood-stasis and phlegm accumulation in Fei, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05, P<0.01); The highest level of NT-proBNP was shown in syndrome type of yang-deficiency with water-retention, the secondary was in Xin-Shen yang-deficiency, and all showed significant differences as compared with that in other syndrome types (P<0.05); while difference of PBSC count in patients with various syndrome types showed insignificance (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Chinese medicine syndrome is correlated with heart function and PBSC count in patients with IHF, and the PBSC count in patients with characteristics of yang-deficiency syndrome is lower.