Liver Support with TCM
Blood Clotting Factors |
This information is
for educational purposes only.
Materials regarding herbs have not been evaluated by the
U.S. Food & Drug Administration and are not in any way a
replacement or substitute for professional medical diagnosis and
treatment. Persons with specific medical illnesses are advised
to seek professional care. |
Liver diseases are the common causes of blood clotting dysfunction. The
Liver makes six blood clotting factors: I (fibrinogen), II (Prothrombin),
IV, V, VI, and VII. Whenever there is a decrease in any of them,
Prothrombin time (PT) will become abnormally prolonged. Therefore, PT
can be used as an indication of liver synthesis function or dysfunction.
In acute liver cell diseases, if PT prolonged, it usually indicates
severe liver cell necrosis and a poor prognosis. In chronic liver
diseases, if PT is prolonged to more than five seconds and there is no
response to vitamin K injection, this usually suggests extensive liver
damage and the long-term prognosis is usually poor. In about 60% of
death cases caused by alcoholic liver diseases, PT was prolonged to more
than four seconds.
Clinically when we
evaluate the result of the PT test, it is important to know whether
patient has active bleeding. If there is blood in the stool, the herbal
remedies used are:
Yunan Bai Yao Capsule
Xian He Cao (Herba agremoniae)
Qian Cao (Rubiae radix)
If there is black stool and vomiting with blood, the patient should be
taken to the emergency room as soon as possible.
When treating PT/PA disorder, in MCM terms, treatment is not only
focused on preventing and stopping localized bleeding. The TCM theory
behind this is to supplement Qi and prevent liver failure. For severe
liver inflammation, such as fulminant hepatitis, TCM theory is to treat
the “noxious heat and viral qi exhaustion” with strong herbal formulas
such as:
An Gong Niu Huang Wan (Bolus of Calculus Bovis for Resurrection)
Wu Wei Xiao Du Yin (Decoction of Five Ingredients for Antiphologistic)
Zi Xue Dan (Purple-Snow Pellet).
From a conventional medical standpoint, the stoppage of bleeding is the
main objective. Serious bleeding is the most common cause of death in
advanced cirrhotic patients. In cases of stable compensated cirrhosis,
even small amounts of toxins such as alcohol or other disturbances
(including emotional stress) can still trigger bleeding. Thus, patients
must pay careful attention to all aspects of diet and stress management.
Herbal treatments for
preventing bleeding and raising platelet count are Yunan Bai Yao Capsule
and Bai Ji Granule.
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