Chronic renal failure (CRF)

Chronic renal disease (CRD) is a pathophysiologic process with multiple etiologies, resulting in the inexorable attrition of nephron number and function, and frequently leading to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) . In turn, ESRD represents a clinical state or condition in which there has been an irreversible loss of endogenous renal function, of a degree sufficient to render the patient permanently dependent upon renal replacement therapy (dialysis or transplantation) in order to avoid life-threatening uremia . Uremia is the clinical and laboratory syndrome, reflecting dysfunction of all organ systems as a result of untreated or undertreated acute or chronic renal failure. In the traditional Chinese medicine studies, this disease belongs to the categories of shui zhong (edema), yao tong (waist pain) , xu lao (weakness) and shen feng (dizziness, muscular spasm and etc) . The traditional Chinese doctors consider that congenital body weakness, overworking, imbalance of nutrition, repeated disease infections or cannot be cured after long time, all these will cause gradually weakening of kidney Qi , weakness and damage of internal organs, if the spleen is weak, it will impair the circulation and fluid metabolism causing lack of nutrition and growth of blood, then resulted in accumulation of poisonous (bad) moist at san jiao (an acupuncture point at the abdomen) , clear Qi cannot ascend and bad Qi cannot descend, the body cannot differentiate between clear and bad Qi , therefore, the bad moist and Qi are accumulated inside the body and cannot be excreted externally, thus resulted in heart and kidney failure and lastly-death. Clinical treatment result There were 98 cases using Chinese medicine; 55 cases of shown effectiveness, 33 cases turned out better, shown effectiveness 56.1%, total effectiveness 89.7%.