Collaboration between Western and traditional Chinese medicine has shown remarkable success in saving cardiac arrest patients from heart transplants and amputations!
Update Date：2024/11/05，
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Pharmacist Pei-Ling Liao, Head of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Pharmacy at the Clinical Pharmacy
A 47-year-old male patient with no prior medical history experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) at home and was rushed to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with cardiogenic shock and triple-vessel disease. He underwent coronary artery bypass grafting and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), after which he developed multiple organ dysfunction. The doctors implanted a biventricular assist device and recommended a heart transplant. Two weeks later, the patient developed limb ischemia with significant exudate from a wound on his right lower limb. To prevent infection, doctors suggested amputation, but the patient, considering surgical risks and financial constraints, chose to preserve his heart and limbs and expressed interest in integrative treatment with traditional Chinese medicine. Through integrative care at Tri-Service General Hospital, traditional Chinese medicine treatment successfully helped the heart failure patient avoid both a heart transplant and limb amputation. The patient made remarkable progress and was eventually discharged.
Pei-Ling Liao, Head of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Pharmacy in our Clinical Pharmacy Department, stated that the active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been clinically validated. Since critically ill patients require much higher doses of TCM than regular patients, Tri-Service General Hospital’s smart TCM pharmacy uses a standardized, concentrated decoction process to provide precise, individualized service for prescriptions, effectively enhancing the results of integrated Chinese and Western treatments. In the case of caring for the critically ill patient, individualized TCM decoction required 3.5 hours (compared to about 1 hour for standard patients). For herbs that need to be used in large doses—such as Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata—the extended decoction time significantly reduces toxicity, while preserving its cardiotonic properties even after long boiling durations.
In addition, doctors applied the herbal ointment Sheng Ji Yu Hong Gao to the wound area to promote healing and muscle regeneration. This ointment is primarily used to stimulate tissue regeneration, reduce swelling and pain, stop bleeding, and accelerate wound healing. Following treatment, the patient's limb gangrene showed significant improvement.
After being discharged, the patient, who worked from home, contracted COVID-19 on May 20, 2023. He initially took the concentrated herbal formula NRICM101 for 10 days, but as he had not yet tested negative, he switched to the NRICM102 decoction. Six days later, he tested negative for the virus. Despite being unvaccinated, he successfully recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection without any complications. The patient and his family expressed deep gratitude to the Tri-Service General Hospital’s Emergency Department, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Cardiac Surgery Team, Traditional Chinese Medicine Department, and the TCM Pharmacy of the Pharmacy Department. This case exemplifies the progressive and remarkable effects of integrative Chinese and Western medicine treatment at Tri-Service General Hospital.
To ensure the safety and quality of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) use, Tri-Service General Hospital’s smart TCM pharmacy rigorously controls the quality of herbal pieces, accurately verifies prescription dosages and ingredients, and manages TCM records via the "Safe Herbal Traceability Platform." This system tracks the source of each batch, including the origin, supplier, processing methods, and test results. If an adverse reaction occurs, the platform can quickly trace the batch and source of the herbs to aid in analyzing the cause, thereby ensuring medication safety. A thorough process has been established, allowing patients to view transparent and detailed information by simply scanning a QR code, enhancing the safety of TCM use and providing patients with better health management services.
