Study on syndrome differentiation strategy of phlegm and blood stasis syndromes of coronary heart disease based on expert consultation on medical cases

Background It is becoming more and more important to judge whether patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) have phlegm and blood stasis syndromes in the process of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnosis and treatment of CHD. The syndrome differentiation strategy of phlegm and blood stasis syndromes of CHD is still not standardized, and it is particularly necessary to make syndrome differentiation simpler and more accurate. Methods Twenty-eight medical cases that met the criteria, comprising 10 ancient medical cases and 18 modern ones, were selected from the TCM literature, which were then analyzed by 57 experts via questionnaire. Statistical analysis of the data was mainly based on frequency analysis. Results (I) The average age of the 57 experts from 20 provinces was 48.9±8.5 years; 89.5% were associate professor or above, and 75.4% of them worked at a tertiary hospital. (II) Consistency of expert consultation over medical cases: for the ancient medical cases, the diagnostic consistency rate of phlegm syndrome was 27/34 (79.4%) and additional diagnosis rate of the blood stasis syndrome was 27/57 (47.4%); for the modern medical cases, the consistency rate compared with the original diagnosis of phlegm syndrome was 54/80 (67.5%) and that of blood stasis syndrome was 73/90 (81.1%). (III) The top five experts' diagnostic basics of phlegm syndrome were oppression in the chest, slippery pulse, greasy fur, coughing of phlegm, and chest pain; the top five diagnostic basics of blood stasis syndrome were chest pain, dark tongue, oppression in chest, red tongue, and ecchymosis on tongue. (IV) In the questionnaire consultation on CHD phlegm-blood stasis syndrome cases, the diagnostic basis of "symptom or (and) tongue manifestation" accounted for 12/27 (44.4%) of the diagnostic basics of phlegm syndrome and 28/38 (73.7%) of that of blood stasis syndrome basis. Conclusions Modern Chinese medicine experts pay much attention to the diagnosis and treatment of CHD based on TCM pathology theories of phlegm and blood stasis. To collect and detect the patients' symptoms and tongue manifestation is an important strategy of the experts for CHD phlegm and blood stasis syndrome differentiation.