# The effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine on cardiac function after percutaneous coronary intervention: a meta-analysis and systematic review

## TL;DR

This study finds that combining Traditional Chinese Medicine with Western therapy may reduce heart complications after a common heart procedure.

## Contribution

A meta-analysis showing TCM combined with Western medicine reduces in-stent restenosis and non-fatal heart attacks after PCI.

## Key findings

- Integrated TCM and Western therapy significantly reduced in-stent restenosis compared to Western medicine alone.
- Non-fatal myocardial infarction incidence was lower with TCM plus Western treatment.
- No significant difference in cardiac mortality or CABG rates between treatment groups.

## Abstract

This systematic review aimed to synthesize and summarize current evidence regarding the effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) on cardiac function in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), and the Chinese Scientific and Technological Journal Database (VIP). Relevant conference papers were also manually screened. Studies evaluating the clinical efficacy of TCM combined with conventional Western medicine for CHD after PCI were selected based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the RoB 2. Data extraction was performed independently, and Stata software was used for meta-analysis.

12 studies involving a total of 6,383 patients were included. Compared with conventional Western medicine alone, integrated TCM and Western therapy significantly reduced the incidence of in-stent restenosis (ISR) and non-fatal myocardial infarction after PCI (p < 0.05). However, no significant differences were observed in cardiac mortality or the incidence of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) between the two treatment approaches (p > 0.05).

The combination of TCM with conventional Western therapy may reduce ISR and non-fatal myocardial infarction in CHD patients after PCI compared with Western medicine alone, suggesting potential benefits for improving post-PCI clinical outcomes.