Effect of Tongmai Huoxue decoction combined with warm needling on hemorheology and antioxidant capacity in patients with high altitude polycythemia

• Main Authors: Wen-Ling Zhao, Ru-Yi Yang, Chang-Xia Cao, Zhan-Fang Guo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editorial Board of Journal of Hainan Medical University 2017-08-01
• Series: Journal of Hainan Medical University
• Subjects: Tongmai Huoxue Decoction; Hemorheology; Anti-oxidation; Warm needling; High altitude polycythemia
• Online Access: http://www.hnykdxxb.com/PDF/201715/4.pdf

Objective: To investigate the curative effect of Tongmai Huoxue Decoction combined with warm needling on the treatment of High altitude polycythemia (HAPC), and to analyze the changes of hemorheology and antioxidant ability before and after treatment. Methods: A total of 90 HAPC patients were randomly divided into control group and observation group. The control group was treated with low molecular weight dextran and captopril. On the basis of this, the observation group was supplemented with Tongmai Huoxue Decoction combined with warm needling. Hemorheology and antioxidant markers were measured before and after treatment in all subjects. Results: Before treatment, there were no significant differences in the hemorheology indexes between the control group and the observation group. After treatment, the two groups of hemorheology related indicators were significantly lower than those before treatment, including whole blood low shear reduction viscosity, whole blood high shear reduction viscosity, plasma viscosity, Hb, Hct and RBC. The levels of the observation group were significantly lower than that of the control group. Before treatment, there was no significant difference in antioxidant indexes between the control group and the observation group. After treatment, the levels of serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) in the two groups were higher than those in the pre-treatment, while the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) was lower than that before treatment. The levels of serum SOD and GSH in the observation group were higher than those in the control group, and the MDA content was lower than that in the control group. Conclusion: Routine treatment of Western medicine combined with Tongmai Huoxue Decoction joint warm needling method may reduce hemoglobin, improve hemorheology and improve antioxidant ability in HAPC patients, and it may be one of the potential effective drugs for adjuvant therapy of HAPC.