Effect of supplementing qi, blood-activating and kidney-nourishing therapy on postoperative recovery in patients with lumber disc herniation / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of supplementing qi, activating blood circulation and tonifying kidney therapy on the postoperative outcomes of patients undergoing lumber intervertebral disc herniation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From January 2010 to May 2012, 120 patients with lumbar intervertebral disc herniation undergoing surgical treatment in Nanfang hospital were randomized into two equal groups to receive routine therapy (control group) and additional treatment with Yiqi Houxue Bushen Decoction (treatment group). The effect of the interventions was evaluated by assessing the Visual Analogue Scale(VAS), Japanese Orthopedic Association Scores (JOA), WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), length of hospital stay and adverse event.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All the 120 patients were followed up and analyzed. Significant differences were found between the treatment and control groups in VAS, JOA Scores, and WHOQOL-BREF (P<0.01) at 2, 4, and 8 week and at 6 and 12 months after the surgery. At 6 and 12 months postoperatively, the JOA Scores (P<0.01), but not the VAS and WHOQOL-BREF, differed significantly between the two groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Blood-activating and kidney-nourishing therapy is effective in promoting postoperative recovery and helps reduce the clinical symptoms and minimize the adverse events in patients undergoing surgery for lumber intervertebral disc herniation.</p>

Pathological characteristics of dilated hearts with sole myocardial wall damage in recipients / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>It is difficult to differentiate the causes of dilated cardiomyopathy only by clinical evaluation and image analysis. Pathomorphologic examinations on diseased hearts may help to improve the diagnosis accuracy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty-six extransplanted hearts from June, 2004 to June, 2006 were examined. Gross and histopathological findings were recorded, photographed and final pathological diagnosis was compared to clinical diagnosis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Dilations were caused by sole myocardial wall damage in 38 (67.9%) of the 56 patients, including 19 primary dilated cardiomyopathy, 9 arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, 1 non-compaction cardiomyopathy, 6 ischemic cardiomyopathy, 1 alcoholic cardiomyopathy, 1 hypertensive cardiomyopathy and 1 giant cell myocarditis. The clinical and pathological diagnoses were different in 15 cases (39.5%). The most discrepancies were arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (77.8%), ischemic cardiomyopathy (83.3%), and giant cell myocarditis (100%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>This pathological study of recipient hearts showed a high portion of patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and ischemic cardiomyopathy were misdiagnosed as primary cardiomyopathy. Correct diagnosis of primary cardiomyopathy needs to rule out possible secondary causes of myocardial dilation.</p>