Hepatitis C is an inflammatory disease of the liver caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and is one of the infectious diseases that seriously threaten human health. However, HCV can damage the liver continuously and make the disease progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer unknowingly.
According to the World Health Organization, about 3% of the world’s population is infected with HCV, and the average infection rate in China is 3.2%, slightly higher than the world average. A press conference held by the China Hepatitis Prevention and Control Foundation said: In recent years, the number of reported cases of hepatitis C in China has been on the rise year by year, with 120,000 cases reported in 2008, six times more than in 2003. Currently, the number of reported deaths from hepatitis C has risen to the 5th place among all infectious diseases in China. There are about 41.6 million people infected with the hepatitis C virus nationwide, but public awareness of the disease is low. Therefore, the risk of hepatitis C cannot be ignored.
The treatment regimen of polyethylene glycol (PEG) interferon combined with ribavirin is the current standard of care for chronic hepatitis C and is the most effective regimen at this stage of treatment [1]. However, Chinese medicine has specific advantages for people who fail to receive anti-hepatitis C virus treatment, cannot receive interferon treatment or refuse interferon treatment.
I. Proprietary Chinese medicine treatment
Hepatitis C is different from hepatitis B. Since the incidence of hepatitis C is relatively low and its recognition is late, it has not been universally paid attention to, and the research on its treatment is not as deep as that of hepatitis B. There are relatively few effective proprietary Chinese medicines.
Song Gardenia Pill is the first Chinese patent medicine new drug for treating hepatitis C in our country, has completed the phase I, II and III clinical trial, and got the new drug certificate in September 2007 (State Drug Certificate Z20070012), which has filled the blank of treating hepatitis C with Chinese patent medicine at home and abroad. Song Gardenia Pill originated from the experienced formula of Meng’s family of Dong tribe in Xiangxi province of Hunan province for treating “high phuang disease”, which has been scientifically formulated and elaborately developed by several generations and become a new medicine of national traditional Chinese medicine of three categories for treating hepatitis C. It has been supported by the national “Tenth Five-Year Plan” and national “863 Plan” successively. Phase II and III clinical trials at the National Clinical Pharmacology Base have demonstrated that the drug has a 36.55% reversion rate of qualitative HCV-RNA virus test in hepatitis C patients, and 13.27% of patients have a reversion rate after 6 months of drug discontinuation, inhibiting HCV virus replication, improving liver function, and effectively improving the symptoms and signs of chronic hepatitis C patients. Compared with the current widely used hepatitis C treatment drugs-alpha-interferon and ribavirin, Songjuana pill has the characteristics of wide applicability, safe and stable, small side effects, low price, easy to take, no adverse reactions, etc.
Composition】Gardenia jasminoides root, taiwanshen, sand, salvia, etc.
Pharmacology and Toxicology】The drug has the function of enhancing the non-specific immunity and humoral immunity of immunocompromised animals. The results of the interferon induction test showed that this product has the effect of promoting the induction of interferon in mice; the results of the interferon induction dynamics test in rats showed that the serum interferon content in the body began to increase after 8 hours of administration, peaking at 24 hours and decreasing at 32 hours; the results of the determination of the activity of the induced interferon in rats and mice after taking this product showed that the induced interferon was type II interferon.
Indications】Clear heat and dampness, detoxify and resolve blood stasis, strengthen the spleen and benefit the qi.
Dosage】Orally, 5g once, 2 times a day, 3 months as a course of treatment, usually take 1 course, mixed infection or jaundice need to take 2 courses of treatment.
The viral load and genetic type of Fu Zheng Hua Yu Tablet are not related to the degree of liver fibrosis. The degree of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C mainly depends on the immune status of the patient. Therefore, anti-liver fibrosis treatment for chronic hepatitis C is still very much needed, but so far there is no FDA-approved clinical drug for anti-liver fibrosis.
Fu Zheng Hua Yu Fang is composed of six Chinese herbs, including Salvia miltiorrhiza, Cordyceps sinensis and Peach kernel, which is an effective anti-liver fibrosis herbal medicine developed by the Institute of Liver Diseases of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine after nearly 20 years of exploration based on the Chinese medical mechanism of liver fibrosis, namely “deficiency of both qi and yin, blood stasis and obstruction of ligaments”. In 2006, the Chinese Society of Integrative Medicine and Liver Diseases listed it as the preferred anti-liver fibrosis Chinese medicine in the Chinese and Western Medicine and Liver Fibrosis Treatment Guide, and it is widely used in the treatment of chronic liver diseases in China.
In January 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the implementation of a randomized, double-blind, multicenter phase II clinical trial of the anti-liver fibrosis drug, Fuzheng Huayu Tablet, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C liver fibrosis. The implementation and completion of this project will not only address liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C in the United States, but also help complement the domestic market and bring benefits to the majority of patients with chronic hepatitis C in China [2].
Composition]: Salvia miltiorrhiza, fermented Cordyceps powder, peach kernel, pine pollen, gynostemma, Schisandra (made) [Properties]: This product is a capsule, the contents of brown granules, taste bitter, astringent.
Pharmacological action】Pharmacological test shows that this product can inhibit the degree of liver fibrosis in rats caused by carbon tetrachloride plus high fat feed, and inhibit the elevation of serum alanine amino-converting enzyme in rats caused by carbon tetrachloride and D-galactosamine. Long-term toxicity test showed that 2.30 and 0.37g/kg of this product could reduce the reticulocyte count and increase the white blood cell count of rats when administered by gavage for 6 months.
Functions: Promoting blood circulation and eliminating blood stasis, benefiting essence and nourishing liver. It is used for liver fibrosis with “blood stasis blocking the ligaments, liver and kidney deficiency”.
Dosage】Take orally, 5 capsules once, 3 times a day, 24 weeks as a course of treatment.
Adverse Reactions】Sometimes there is discomfort in the stomach after taking.
Contraindications】Not to be taken by pregnant women.
Precautions】Caution for people with damp heat.
Second, the identification and treatment, comprehensive treatment
Compared with hepatitis B, the incidence of hepatitis C is low, so its treatment is relatively less important, and the research on treatment is not as in-depth as that of hepatitis B. From the viewpoint of the identification and typing of treatment, different doctors have different understanding.
Many scholars refer to the Chinese medical classification criteria for viral hepatitis developed at the Tianjin meeting of the Chinese National Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CNCM) Committee of Internal Medicine and Liver Diseases in December 1991. However, there are still patients with hepatitis C in the clinic who are difficult to be included in the above-mentioned evidence types. Therefore, some scholars have studied the clinical syndromes of hepatitis C and found that the most common clinical symptoms of hepatitis C are weakness, poor appetite, stuffiness and abdominal distension of the spleen and stomach. Since there is no popularized standard for TCM evidence-based treatment, medical practitioners mostly administer different prescriptions based on their experience.
Chinese medicine has specific advantages in the treatment of hepatitis C. Since the prescriptions and medicines are based on the diagnosis and vary from person to person, they have achieved more satisfactory efficacy in liver protection, enzyme lowering, immune adjustment, anti-liver fibrosis and improvement of clinical symptoms, showing certain advantages and potential. While anti-hepatitis C virus is not an advantage of TCM, it can indirectly play an anti-viral role by adjusting the patient’s immunity. For this reason, many doctors are currently using interferon and ribavirin in the treatment of hepatitis C in combination with Chinese herbal medicine to enhance the efficacy and reduce side effects.
Hepatitis C requires regular and systematic treatment, patients should not blindly believe in some unrealistic propaganda and delay the disease, it is recommended to go to a regular hospital for systematic examination and specialist treatment.