How does Chinese medicine combined with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation treat blood disorders?

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is an important treatment tool for the eradication of many diseases, including hematologic neoplastic diseases. From 2012 to 2013, our department successfully completed 4 cases of autologous HSCT, which were treated with a combination of TCM in stages before and after transplantation, with no serious adverse reactions and remarkable efficacy. We believe that the pre-treatment program (high-dose radiotherapy/chemotherapy) applied to the patients before transplantation can be regarded as the “heat toxicity/pharmaceutical toxicity” treatment in TCM, which is in line with the principle of “attacking toxicity with toxicity” in TCM for the treatment of major toxicity diseases, therefore, TCM treatment should pay attention to benefiting Qi and nourishing Yin, lowering rebelliousness and stopping vomiting, and eliminating food. Therefore, TCM treatment should pay attention to the formula of protecting “righteousness” by benefiting qi and nourishing yin, lowering rebellion and stopping vomiting, eliminating food and appetite, etc. Commonly used drugs are Astragalus, Radix Codonopsis, Mucuna Pruriens, Rhizoma Atractylodis, Poria, Houpei, Chen Pi, Lycium barbarum, Mai Dong, etc. to prevent the pretreatment from hurting the body too much. Therefore, Chinese medicine treatment should pay attention to dredging the liver, strengthening the spleen, benefiting qi and promoting blood, etc. together with symptomatic prescriptions, commonly used drugs such as Chai Hu, Scutellaria baicalensis, Bai Shao, Radix Codonopsis pilosulae, Radix et Rhizoma ginseng, Radix et Rhizoma aromaticae, Radix et Rhizoma senna, Radix et Rhizoma yam, Salviae Miltiorrhizae, etc. Therefore, Chinese medicine treatment is based on the principle of “treating the disease by removing seven of the ten major toxins”, therefore, Chinese medicine treatment is based on the principle of supporting the righteousness and eliminating the evil, mainly by strengthening the spleen and tonifying the kidney, together with the prescriptions of invigorating blood and resolving phlegm, clearing heat and detoxifying toxins, etc. Commonly used drugs are Astragalus, Radix et Rhizoma, Ginseng, Epimedium, Salvia, Panax ginseng, Cat’s Claw Herb, Radix et Rhizoma. The common medicines include Astragalus, Radix Bupleuri, Ginseng, Epimedium, Salviae Miltiorrhizae, Panax Ginseng, Cat’s Claw, Radix et Rhizoma, Yellow Herb Seed, Chaste Tree, Coix Seed, etc. Our department has successfully applied Chinese medicine combined with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to treat hematologic systemic diseases, making our hospital the first hospital in Wuyi area to apply Chinese medicine to intervene in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which will bring good news to the majority of hematologic patients and better benefit the people.