The TCM stage-oriented treatment for chronic cardiac insufficiency.

Generally, heart failure at the stable stage can be treated mainly with TCM drugs. Cardiac insufficiency of degree I and II can be simply treated with Chinese drugs. However, the western medicine ACEI is suggested to be used at the same time. For heart failure of degree III, measures of the western medical treatment should be adopted accordingly, such as the use of diuretics or Digoxin to control atrial fibrillation; beta-receptor blockers to increase the density of beta-receptor on the depleted myocardial cell membrane, so as to increase the sensitivity of the myocardial cells to CA, and effectively prevent the fatal ventricular fibrillation. At the acute aggravation stage of cardiac insufficiency, the inducing factors should be first eliminated to control the condition as soon as possible; and at the critical moment, modern medicine should be used. In case of acute pulmonary edema, emergency treatment should be given to save the patient's life. When the acute pulmonary edema is alleviated, Chinese drugs can be used, based on the TCM syndrome differentiation, mainly for removing the pathogenic fluid retention, and restoring the heart-qi and heart-yang.