ABSTRACT
The changing of atherosclerosis (AS) plaque from stable to unstable is closely related to the incidence of cardio-cerebrovascular events. So, to stabilize AS plaque become the hot point of the modern study on prevention and treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases. The formation of AS plaque is a very long and complicated process with the participation of many factors. However, inflammation reaction plays an important role in the formation and rupture of unstable plaque. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) shows latent therapeutic advantages in stabilizing AS plaque with its characteristics of multi-way, multi-link, and multi-target point and all-sided treatment as well as its rather milder adverse reactions. The paper gives a comparatively systematic retrospection of study on unstable plaque treated by integrated Chinese and Western medicine conducted in recent years. Combined with the related topics conducted by the authors, they raise the theory of "unstable plaque is induced by toxinduced by toxin and stagnation", and introduce the study on the intervention of unstable plaque by removing toxic substances and activating blood flow. They believe that the explorative study can provide objective experimental and clinical basis for TCM therapeutic method in stabilizing AS plaque.