Treatment of ventricular arrhythmia in dilated cardiomyopathy with Huangqi

Objective:To explore the effect of Huangqi on ventricular arrhythmia in dilated cardiomyopathy(DCM) and the mechanisms involved in this process.Method:Sixty-five stable DCM patients with ventricular arrhythmias in our hospital from Feb 2009 to Oct 2010 were chosen for this study.According to the results of viral detection,all of patients were divided into 2 groups: Positive group(n=36) and Negative group(n=29).On the basis of the regular therapy,25 cases from Positive group took Huangqi orally for six month(P1 group) while the other 11 cases did not take this medicine(P2 group).And in Negative group,18 cases received the treatment of Huangqi(N1 group) and 11 cases did not(N2 group).Before or after the study,Holter was used to monitor the changes of ventricular arrhythmias,ultrasoundcardiogram(UCG) was employed to investigate Left ventricular end diastolic diameter(LVEDd) and ejection fraction(LVEF),and ELISA was taken to measure the levels of blood cytokines IFN-γ,IL-4 and TGF-β1.Result:There were 3 cases from P1 and 2 cases from N1 groups quit the study because of stopping taking Huangqi or loss of follow up.After the treatment of Huangqi for 6 months,the rates of improving the ventricular arrhythmias were 54.5%(12/22) in P1 group,18.2%(2/11) in P2 group,43.8%(7/16) in N1 group,and 27.3%(3/11) in N2 group,respectively and the difference was significant(P0.05).Moreover,compared with those before the treatment,the sizes of LVEDd and the levels of serum IFN-γ,TGF-β1 were all decreased while LVEF increased significantly in P1 and N1 groups(P0.05),with no changes of IL-4.In P2 and N2 groups,the similar changes as P1 and N1 groups were also found but with no statistic significances in LVEDd,LVEF and IL-4.Conclusion:Taking Huangqi orally could effectively control ventricular arrhythmia in DCM,and the mechanism might be related to reduction of serum IFN-γ and TGF-β1 and inhibition of myocardial fibrosis.