Chinese Medicine - Modern Practice (252 pages)

62 I! Liu et al.
there is no special and effective therapy for primary diseases of liver
fibrosis. Following cytokines being the popular approach to liver fibrosis,
there has been fast development in the field of molecular biology and
intracellular signaling for the study of liver fibrosis. Because it is hard to
make a breakthrough for the therapeutics of liver fibrosis at present, em-
phasis should be put on fundamental research so as to seek a breakthrough
from the highlighted mechanism of liver fibrosis and the invention of new
drugs and therapy (Wang, 1997). However, TCM clinical and fundamental
studies have shown significant superiority for treating liver fibrosis (Liu
et al., 1988). From the 1970s, the study of TCM in treating and preventing
cirrhosis and liver fibrosis has been carried out and development has been
achieved with the following ways: study from compound recipe, single
drugs and effective ingredients; and study from naked eye observation,
light microscopic pathological observation, electronic microscopic ultra
structure changes and biochemical analysis. This paper outlines the
progress in anti-liver fibrosis and looks into the future of this field.
6.2 Clinical Efficacy of TCM in Inhibiting Liver Fibrosis
In the past decade, anti-liver fibrosis study of TCM has been generally
highly regarded and significant progress has been made with new drug
put into clinical application.
6.2.1 Peach kernel extract combined with cordyceps can improve
the activity of interstitial collugenase and enhance
the reversion of liver fibrosis
In early 1980s, based on the theory of abdominal mass correlated to liver
fibrosis, pains in both sides of the rib with varied position and occasional
swelling of feet if evils settle in the liver is caused by extravagated blood
stagnating internally (from Miraculous Pivot - Five Evil). Accumulation
is due to evil qi settling resulted from qi deficiency. Focusing directly at
two key factors: blood stasis and qi deficiency, and based on previous
work, we applied cordyceps combining extract of peach kernel to inhibit
liver fibrosis. The study was randomised, double blinded and controlled,
with parameters as appearance under laparoscope, liver biopsy, collagen