Li Guangxi: Make due contributions to world medicine by leveraging the advantages of TCM in “preventive treatment”

[Editor's Note] "We must develop traditional Chinese medicine, focus on using modern science to interpret the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, and take the path of combining Chinese and Western medicine." On May 12, General Secretary Xi Jinping once again mentioned traditional Chinese medicine during his inspection in Nanyang City, Henan Province, and put forward new and clear requirements for its further development.

Only by inheriting the essence can the development of traditional Chinese medicine last long; only by adhering to the truth and innovating can the development of traditional Chinese medicine be clear and exciting. Combining the outstanding performance and experience of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, many traditional Chinese medicine experts who have participated in the front-line anti-epidemic efforts talked about their experiences and made suggestions for the high-quality development of traditional Chinese medicine and the protection of the health of all mankind.

Li Guangxi, chief physician of Guang'anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Photo provided by the interviewee

"Countries around the world are paying more and more attention to the three-level prevention of diseases, and emerging disciplines such as health medicine, preventive medicine, and chronic disease management are booming, which is consistent with the concept of 'preventive treatment' in traditional Chinese medicine, that is, 'prevention before illness, prevention of disease progression, and prevention of recurrence after recovery'. Therefore, the advantage of 'preventive treatment' of traditional Chinese medicine needs to be exerted as soon as possible to make due contributions to world medicine." Combining the experience of fighting the epidemic, Li Guangxi, chief physician of Guang'anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, expressed his views. He believes that in the new era, the development of traditional Chinese medicine must communicate and complement each other in a common language, explain traditional Chinese medicine with modern science, promote the combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and embark on a new medical path with Chinese characteristics.

On May 23, 2021, a doctor added medicine bags to the automatic decoction machine at Yingkou Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Pan Yulong

Traditional Chinese medicine turns into new anti-epidemic medicine

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, traditional Chinese medicine has played an important role in my country's efforts to win the overall battle and blocking the epidemic.

Great epidemics bring out good medicines. "'Three medicines and three prescriptions' are effective prescriptions selected by colleagues in the field of traditional Chinese medicine through clinical practice during this COVID-19 epidemic," said Li Guangxi.

Li Guangxi explained that most infectious diseases are caused by new viruses. Modern medicine often takes a long time to develop drugs for new viruses, and requires strict clinical trials to evaluate their effectiveness and safety. However, many good prescriptions for fighting plagues summed up by our ancestors and famous scholars over thousands of years of history are worth learning from.

"Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes the early and rapid use of Chinese medicine to eliminate the toxins and evil spirits from the surface and prevent them from being internalized. In the treatment of the current COVID-19 epidemic, the 'three medicines and three prescriptions' were used in the early stages of the epidemic, which quickly alleviated clinical symptoms and curbed the progression of the disease. Today, modern medicine has also recognized that preventing virus-induced lung damage is the key to treatment, but currently only hormones or prone ventilation and other methods can be used to reduce alveolar infiltration to prevent lung damage, and this type of treatment still needs more clinical data to support it," Li Guangxi pointed out.

On February 11, 2020, medical team members from Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine were preparing for acupuncture application of traditional Chinese medicine for patients. Photo courtesy of the medical team from Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine assisting Hubei Province

Chinese and Western medicine work together to improve treatment results

"The pathological mechanism of the new coronavirus urgently requires mutual reference between Chinese and Western medicine, and we need to find answers in the knowledge and experience of the ancients." Li Guangxi, who participated in the fight against the epidemic in Wuhan, has a deep understanding of the coordinated treatment of Chinese and Western medicine.

"During the treatment of the Wuhan epidemic, after in-depth summary, we gradually reached a basic consensus. Early treatment is mainly based on the intervention of traditional Chinese medicine, and its main function is to quickly cut off the progression of the disease and strive to make the patient's fever and cough symptoms disappear quickly within three to five days. After such treatment, patients are less likely to suffer from lung damage induced by 'inflammatory storm'." Li Guangxi said.

Li Guangxi believes that traditional Chinese medicine treatment emphasizes the word "early" and guards the first checkpoint - give Chinese medicine as "early" as possible, reduce fever as "early" as possible, and detect changes in the condition as "early" as possible.

"If the patient's condition cannot be contained in the early stages, it will progress to the acute lung injury stage around the seventh day of onset, with symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, and respiratory failure." Li Guangxi said that if the patient reaches this stage, the main focus will be on symptomatic respiratory support for the patient, with Western medicine treatment as the main approach, combined with traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation treatment.

Li Guangxi introduced that this comprehensive treatment plan has been formed in which Chinese medicine is the main treatment in the early stage and takes the lead. When the patient develops lung damage and respiratory failure, Western medicine respiratory support treatment is used as the main treatment, supplemented by Chinese medicine treatment to reduce the mortality rate.

"Currently, one of the focuses of modern medicine in treating COVID-19 is to protect vulnerable groups who are prone to developing lung damage, which is consistent with the concept of 'weak vital energy' in traditional Chinese medicine," Li Guangxi explained.

On February 25, 2020, Yi Qin (front), a medical staff member of the First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, led patients with COVID-19 to practice Ba Duan Jin at the Jiangxia Fangcang Hospital. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shen Bohan

Forming China's unique health assessment system

Li Guangxi introduced that thousands of years of TCM practice of preventing diseases have formed various health-preserving theories, which have detailed discussions on personal health status, diet, daily life, lifestyle, behavioral characteristics, seasonal climate, etc. However, my country has not yet sorted out the above theories in detail to form a system, and combined them with modern preventive medicine and rehabilitation medicine to form a new health medicine theory.

"The rich health-preserving practices included in traditional Chinese medicine, such as diet therapy, ointment prescriptions, acupuncture, massage, cupping, acupoint plasters, Five Animal Exercises, Eight-Section Brocade, Qigong, and Tai Chi, can provide guidance for modern health medicine and have broad development space." Li Guangxi said, therefore, while emphasizing the use of traditional Chinese medicine in treating diseases, we must also emphasize the important value of traditional Chinese medicine in health care.

Li Guangxi also pointed out that although many hospitals have established centers for preventing diseases, they serve a small number of people and the content is relatively simple. Li Guangxi suggested that a chronic disease management center with TCM prevention of diseases as the core should be established as soon as possible, starting from the basic needs of patients, to truly solve the problems of chronic disease management and population aging in China. At the same time, it should extend to both sides to solve the health problems of the community population and the health care problems of patients after hospitalization. In this way, the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine can be fully utilized, integrated with modern medicine, and the management and control of chronic diseases can be truly realized.

"Nowadays, foreign health medicine is closely integrated with the leapfrog development of modern electronic technology. We should also explore the various diagnostic techniques in the historical literature of traditional Chinese medicine, combine them with modern science and technology, form a unique Chinese health assessment system, and establish international health standards." Li Guangxi said that traditional Chinese medicine's unique analysis and judgment methods of the health functional status of the human body combined with modern science and technology will definitely make a special contribution to my country's health medicine going global.