Chronic heart failure (hereafter referred to as heart failure) is a serious global public health and clinical problem with a high rate of disability and mortality. In recent years, the incidence of heart failure has been on the rise in developed and developing countries due to the aging of the population. With the continuous research on the mechanism of heart failure, the western medical treatment of heart failure has gradually changed from short-term correction of hemodynamic abnormalities to long-term neurohumoral regulation and even attempts to reverse the myocardial abnormalities, and the classical heart failure conventional treatment of cardiac strengthening, diuretic and vasodilator has been updated to “the combined application of ACEI, diuretics and β-blockers with or without digoxin. ” . It is now believed that short-term cardiotonic, diuretic and vasodilator therapy can rapidly relieve dyspnea, edema and other symptoms and improve cardiac function, while long-term ACEI and β-blocker therapy can help reduce the mortality of heart failure. Although the treatment of heart failure in Western medicine has made promising progress, there are still many problems that need to be solved. They are summarized as follows: (1) not completely improve the symptoms: in addition to shortness of breath, swollen limbs and other symptoms, heart failure patients are often accompanied by palpitations, cough, phlegm, thirst, insomnia, poor appetite, abdominal distension, fear of cold and other discomforts, which cannot be solved by simple anti-heart failure drugs. (2) Side effects limit the application of drugs: for example, the use of β-blockers can easily lead to fatigue, the use of ACEI can easily lead to cough, and the application of diuretics can lead to electrolyte disorders and other side effects, which often lead to the limitation of drug use. (3) There are more prohibited areas: ACEI drugs are restricted when accompanied by renal insufficiency or hypotension; β-blockers are restricted when accompanied by bronchial asthma or severe atrioventricular block. (4) For combined diuretic resistance, hypotensive state, and arrhythmia, the effect of western drug treatment is poor. Throughout the current literature and previous studies in our department, Chinese medicine treatment may have certain advantages in the following aspects: 1. How to coordinate the relationship between the heart and other organs and systems is a frequent clinical challenge, which often requires the use of a holistic concept. Chinese medicine has certain advantages in the use of holistic thinking. Professor Deng Tietao, a nationally renowned veteran Chinese medicine practitioner, according to his academic thought of “five organ-related”, believes that heart failure is located in the heart, but “five organ-related”, other organs and the heart are mutually restrained and influenced by each other, which can become the triggering or aggravating factors of heart failure, and conversely, heart failure can cause other organ dysfunction or damage. The heart can become a trigger or aggravating factor for heart failure, and conversely, heart failure can cause dysfunction or damage to other organs. Deng believed that the treatment of heart failure must regulate the qi, blood, yin and yang of the five organs, and cannot be limited to treating the heart. Our preliminary research shows that the treatment of heart failure combined with gastrointestinal disorders using the method of regulating the spleen and protecting the heart has good efficacy; for heart failure combined with hypotension and poor kidney perfusion, using the method of warming the kidney and strengthening the spleen has certain effect; for heart failure patients prone to external sensation, using the method of tonifying the lung and benefiting the health is helpful; for heart failure in remission, the appropriate use of the method of tonifying the kidney and protecting the heart is effective in promoting tissue repair and reducing the recurrence of heart failure. 2. individualized and individualized The causes and triggers of heart failure are diverse, and individual differences are very great, so it is often necessary to assess each patient’s specific situation and adopt individualized treatment; even for the same patient, the treatment plan often needs to be changed at different times. This trend, in essence, is approaching the direction of TCM diagnosis and treatment. However, because Western medicine has always emphasized the generality of things over the specificity of things, the existence of individual differences is often overlooked in clinical practice. Moreover, in assessing the patient’s status, Western medicine often has to resort to various tests, which on the one hand leads to higher costs and on the other hand, there are many inconveniences. In addition, in China’s grassroots areas, the equipment and personnel technical conditions are relatively backward, making it more difficult to regularly assess the patient’s condition. In contrast, traditional Chinese medicine uses the method of observation, diagnosis and diagnosis, combined with the weather and earth, to dynamically assess each patient with heart failure, and treat them with different dosage forms, such as soup, cream, pill and powder, and also guide patients to use food therapy, external treatment and moxibustion therapy to alleviate symptoms and improve physical condition, which has certain advantages. 3. The effect of Western medicine and TCM in relieving the main symptoms of heart failure such as shortness of breath and edema is obvious. However, heart failure is often accompanied by many other symptoms, such as dry mouth, dizziness, palpitations, weakness, chest tightness, abdominal distension, and weakness of the waist and knees, which cannot be helped by Western medicine; at the same time, many heart failure patients are depressed and anxious due to worries about their condition, and suffer from insomnia, mental depression, and sweating, which seriously affect the quality of life of heart failure patients. The most common cause of heart failure recurrence is infection, and how to prevent it is a difficult and important issue. Most heart failure patients are older, easily depressed after illness, afraid to physical exercise, reduced digestive function and other reasons, weak, poor resistance, easy to infection. Traditional Chinese medicine has accumulated considerable experience in conditioning the body and strengthening the constitution. Chinese medicine believes that heart disease over time, the internal organs of Qi gradually decline. The lung is a delicate organ, which is not resistant to heat and cold and is easily invaded by evil. The lung is the master of the skin, and the skin is the main barrier against external evil. If the lung is deficient, it is unable to send out the body qi to defend the outside, so it has poor resistance and is prone to external evil and disease. The Spleen and Stomach are the source of the posterior, the source of Qi and blood biochemistry. By strengthening the Spleen Qi and supporting the right qi, it can resist and remove external evil, and at the same time regulate and maintain the balance of Yin and Yang in the body to remove internal evil, thus eliminating the triggers of heart failure attacks, adjusting the immune function of the patient’s body, promoting the recovery of the functions of the organs, preventing the recurrence of heart failure, and reducing the rate of re-hospitalization. It is valuable to note that in addition to conventional tonics, TCM practitioners can teach patients to use various methods to improve the state of the organism, such as dietary therapy, guidance, and moxibustion, depending on the season. From the current literature, treatments such as tonifying the lung and benefiting the Wei, strengthening the spleen and strengthening the Wei, and cultivating the Yuan and consolidating the root have all been shown to improve the body’s constitution.5. Reduce drug toxicity and reduce patient deaths Heart failure combined with diuretic resistance, arrhythmias, hypotensive states, lung infections, etc., due to vasoactive drugs such as milrinone increasing mortality, antibiotic abuse increasing bacterial resistance, and arrhythmogenic effects of antiarrhythmic drugs leading to Western medicine The treatment effect is poor. The early intervention of TCM can reduce or eliminate the use of vasoactive drugs such as dobutamine and milrinone, antibiotics and anti-arrhythmic drugs, and improve the therapeutic effect. 6. On the one hand, it can improve the therapeutic effect as much as possible according to individual differences; on the other hand, it can make use of the check and balance relationship between medicinal properties to reduce the toxic side effects of drugs. For some patients who are prone to nausea and vomiting when taking digoxin, cough when taking ACEI, or low potassium and sodium when using diuretics and other serious side effects, practice has shown that sometimes the application of Chinese medicine can effectively solve such difficulties. Chinese medicine has obvious advantages in the treatment of heart failure. To reflect the advantages of Chinese medicine, we believe that the following aspects should be taken as the entry point for the treatment of heart failure in Chinese medicine: 1. Staged treatment and multiple means to improve prognosis Because of the different characteristics of the various stages of heart failure, the staged treatment of heart failure patients should be emphasized. Through two rounds of expert questionnaires by 20 cardiovascular TCM or TCM experts from 13 hospitals in 9 provinces and cities, we reached a consensus on the staging of heart failure. The consensus was that the acute exacerbation period should be treated to warm Yang and benefit Qi, invigorate blood and promote water circulation to rapidly relieve heart failure symptoms and control heart failure episodes; the stabilization period should regulate the function of internal organs and balance Yin and Yang, Qi and blood, in order to enhance the patient’s ability to resist disease and evil, promote tissue repair, improve mobility, improve quality of life and reduce heart failure recurrence. When heart failure patients are hospitalized due to acute exacerbation, they can be treated with herbal injections and herbal tonics through evidence-based treatment. And after 3 to 7 days of treatment, if the patient’s shortness of breath and limb swelling is relieved and enters the stabilization period, at this time, treatment with oral Chinese medicine and herbal soup can be used through evidence-based treatment. After 10 to 12 days of treatment, patients can generally be discharged in remission, and at this time, they are in the recovery period. Insisting on taking Chinese patent medicines or Chinese herbal tonics, supplemented with Chinese dietary therapy and Chinese health care to maintain lifelong treatment can improve the quality of survival and reduce the rate of rehospitalization and mortality. 2. Early intervention to resolve heart failure comorbidities For heart failure patients with diuretic resistance, pulmonary infection, hypotensive state, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and For heart failure patients with complications such as diuretic resistance, pulmonary infection, hypotensive state, gastrointestinal dysfunction, arrhythmia, etc., the early intervention of TCM and the characteristic treatment of TCM are valued with ideal results. Chinese medicine has outstanding advantages in the treatment of heart failure comorbidities. For example, for heart failure combined with diuretic resistance, large amounts of diuretics are not effective, and at the same time, electrolyte imbalance is easy to occur, through Chinese medicine treatment, the effect is remarkable. According to TCM, heart failure combined with diuretic resistance is generally more common with Yang deficiency and water flooding and internal stagnation of blood stasis. The original identification of heart failure can be maintained, and the original formula can be supplemented with warming Yang, invigorating blood and diuretic drugs: pig ling, poria, scape seed, carthamus tinctorius, and cinnamon branch. For heart failure combined with pulmonary infection, adding herbs can reduce symptoms, dissolve phlegm, promote inflammation absorption and reduce antibiotic use. Mild pulmonary infection can be treated purely by Chinese medicine, usually with the evidence of phlegm entrapment, adding phlegm-transforming herbs to the original formula, adding Scutellaria baicalensis, Psidium guajava, Morinda citrifolia, Fritillaria fritillaria, Zhaobei, etc. for phlegm-heat, and almonds, Su Zi, and White mustard seeds for phlegm-dampness. Heart failure combined with hypotension, because heart failure patients need to take long-term ACEI, β-blockers and other drugs, all have hypotensive effect, heart failure combined with hypotension western medicine use is limited, can strengthen the return of Yang to rescue, benefit qi fixed off Chinese medicine: red ginseng, Shu Shu Shu Zi, Huang Qi, Citrus astragali, Cornu Cervi Pantotrichum, etc. Heart failure combined with gastrointestinal symptoms, because of heart failure patients with gastrointestinal stasis, the effect of western medicine is not good, to be treated with Chinese medicine to improve the symptoms. Maintaining the original diagnosis of heart failure, we add the following herbs to the original formula: Chuan Pu, Fa Han Xia, Ginger, Mu Xiang, Xuan Fu Hua, and Dai Ochre. When heart failure is combined with arrhythmia, western medicine has a lot of anti-arrhythmic side effects, so herbal treatment can reduce the arrhythmia and improve the symptoms. When non-fatal arrhythmias occur in heart failure patients, maintain the original identification of heart failure and add reduction to the original formula: for rapid arrhythmias add nourishing and calming drugs: mother-of-pearl, Huang Lian, bitter ginseng, sour jujube seeds, cypress seeds; for slow arrhythmias add warming and yang drugs: roasted ephedra, rehmannia, and hosin.