TCM Treatment Based on Syndrome Differentiation:
The western medicine (WM) treatment for HF is standardized around the world. The conventional therapeutic approaches in HF management are angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), β-adrenergic blockers, and diuretics. In China, the integrative treatment of western and traditional Chinese medicine for HF is usually applied and has been developed as a treatment model. CHM has been used in China for thousands of years. Syndrome differentiation and treatment variation are the basic principles of TCM in the understanding and treatment of diseases. Syndrome differentiation is the comprehensive analysis of the clinical information gained by the four main diagnostic TCM procedures, namely, observation, listening, questioning, and pulse analysis, and it is used to guide the choice of treatment by CHM. We would like to test the hypothesis that it is efficacious and safe for patients to take CHM granules according to syndrome differentiation.

Treatment in Western Medicine:
Medical care for heart failure (HF) includes a number of nonpharmacologic, pharmacologic, and invasive strategies to limit and reverse the manifestations of heart failure. Depending on the severity of illness, nonpharmacologic therapies include dietary sodium and fluid restriction; physical activity as appropriate; and attention to weight gain. Pharmacologic therapies include the use of diuretics, vasodilators, inotropic agents, anticoagulants, beta-blockers, and digoxin.

Invasive therapies for heart failure include electrophysiologic intervention such as cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), pacemakers, and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs); revascularization procedures such as coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI); valve replacement or repair; and ventricular restoration.

When progressive end-stage heart failure occurs despite maximal medical therapy, when the prognosis is poor, and when there is no viable therapeutic alternative, the criterion standard for therapy has been heart transplantation.[3] However, mechanical circulatory devices such as ventricular assist devices (VADs) and total artificial hearts (TAHs) can bridge the patient to transplantation; in addition, VADs are increasingly being used as permanent therapy.