HERBAL AND COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE THERAPIES FOR LIVER DISEASE: A Focus on Chinese Traditional Medicine in Hepatitis C Virus

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1089-3261(05)70174-4Get rights and content

This article presents herbal and alternative therapies used in the treatment of liver disease both as adjunctive or complementary treatment to Western pharmaceutical strategies and as an alternative treatment in liver disease, particularly for hepatitis C Virus (HCV). There is a special emphasis on traditional Chinese herbal medicine. The author also discusses several other contemporary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies currently used to treat liver disease.

Section snippets

CHINESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE FOR LIVER DISEASE AND CHRONIC VIRAL HEPATITIS

Hepatitis B–and increasingly, hepatitis C–is prevalent throughout China, accounting for the increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the mainland Chinese population. Fortunately, Chinese traditional medicine has a rich history in the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis and other liver diseases. Therefore, throughout the world today, many people with HCV and other liver diseases are turning to Chinese traditional medicine.

At the International Symposium on Viral Hepatitis and AIDS

CHINESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE FOR LIVER DISEASE IN THE UNITED STATES TODAY

In the United States Chinese traditional medicine is a popular complementary or alternative therapy among people with chronic liver disease. An anecdotal report in 1996 from one of the largest clinical hepatology practices in San Francisco suggests that at least 20% to 30% of patients in this practice report use of Chinese herbal interventions for hepatitis (Robert Gishm, MD, personal communication). The level of use is probably underestimated, because patients often choose not to divulge the

CHINESE MEDICINE PHILOSOPHY

The primary goal of Chinese traditional medicine is to create wholeness and harmony within a person, allowing the mind/body/spirit to heal itself. Chinese philosophy states that there are two polar principles of life, Yin and Yang, that are dialectically opposed to each other. Imbalances of Yin and Yang within an individual may be reflected as illness, because the body is considered a microcosm of the world.

Chinese traditional medicine defines the physiologic components of illness using the

THERAPEUTIC MODALITIES USED IN CHINESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

The various therapeutic modalities of Chinese traditional medicine include dietary therapy, massage therapy, heat therapies, exercise, meditation, acupuncture, and herbal medicine. Heat therapies include the use of moxibustion, which is the burning of the common herb mugwort (artemesia vulgaris) over certain areas of the body to stimulate or warm these areas. Exercise therapy ranges from martial arts to more subtle forms of movement such as T'ai Chi and Qi Gong. Acupuncture, perhaps the

CHINESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE AND HEPATITIS C VIRUS

In Western medicine, extremely harmful pathogens include severe bacterial or viral infections, such as HIV or HCV, but these terms are inappropriate in Chinese traditional medicine. Instead, Chinese medicine “recognizes the existence of Pestilences–called li qi or yi qi. These are diseases that are not caused by the climatic factors of Heat, Cold, Wind, Dampness, or Summer Heat dryness, but by external infectious agents … that are severely toxic because they strike directly at the interior of

Acupuncture

Chinese traditional medicine uses acupuncture extensively in the treatment of liver disease, including chronic viral hepatitis. The primary goal of acupuncture treatment is to readjust the body's Qi6 to allow the body to heal itself. Therefore, acupuncture treatment can be used to treat specific symptoms and to treat a general Epidemic Pattern. After a Chinese traditional medicine diagnosis is given for a client with HCV, an acupuncture treatment plan is developed considering the epidemic

ANOTHER COMPLEMENTARY THERAPY: NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS

For people diagnosed with liver disease, including HCV, using nutritional supplements is often a tricky business: Malnourishment is a problem when the liver can no longer metabolize nutrients properly, so supplementation might seem appropriate. On the other hand, the liver does not need to be burdened with another pill to process. Overtaxing the liver can do damage.

Determining what is safe and appropriate depends entirely on the health of the liver and the patient's overall well-being.

USE OF EASTERN AND WESTERN THERAPIES TOGETHER

If the person with liver disease including HCV and the patient's Eastern and Western practitioners decide to use a combination of Eastern and Western therapies, it is wise to discuss the specific treatment approaches with both the Eastern and Western practitioners. Some Chinese herbal therapies, Western herbal therapies, or nutritional supplements may be inappropriate in severe liver disease or in conjunction with interferon therapy.

Chinese traditional medicine and other CAM therapies, however,

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author thanks David Diehl, MD, FACP, associate clinical professor of medicine at The University of California at Los Angeles/School of Medicine, for his help in the section discussing herbs and liver toxicity.

References (25)

  • M. Cohen et al.
  • R.G. Batey et al.

    Online report

    (1998)
  • Z. Chen

    Clinical analysis of chronic hepatitis B treated with chinese traditional medicine

    (1991)
  • Cohen MR, Doner K. The HIV Wellness Sourcebook, Henry Holt,...
  • M. Cohen et al.
  • M. Cohen et al.
  • D. Deng

    Thirty cases of hepatitis C treated with Song Zhi Mixture

    Hunan Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine

    (1997)
  • D.M. Eisenberg

    Unconventional medicine in the United States—prevalence, costs, and patterns of use

    N Engl J Med

    (1993)
  • K.V. Ergil

    Society for Acupuncture Research Symposium (oral presentation)

    (1998)
  • K.C. Huang
  • Interactions. Integrative Medical Arts Group, Inc. IBIS: Integrative BodyMind Information System, www.IBISmedical.com,...
  • T. Ishizaki et al.

    Pneumonitis during interferon and/or herbal drug therapy in patients with chronic active hepatitis

    Eur Respir J

    (1996)
  • Cited by (0)

    Address reprint requests to Misha Ruth Cohen, OMD, LAc Paths to Wholeness 3128 16th Street PMB #135 San Francisco, CA 94103

    *

    Cancer Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco; Institute for Health and Aging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco; and Department of Research and Education, Quan Yin Healing Arts Center, San Francisco, California

    View full text