¡¡¡¡People may know little about myelofibrosis, but they would surely know more about liver fibrosis (hepatic cirrhosis). Actually, according to the tleory of traditiond chinese medicine the pathogenesis of myeloproliferative and hepatic cirrhosis are very similar. The only difference between the two is the proliferation site of the fibrous tissue. And in some cases these two kinds of diseases may occur at the same time. Myelofibrosis is a kind of myelodysplastic disease where the proliferation of the collagen fibre in the hemopoietic tissue of the bone marrow has seriously hindered the hemopoietic function of the bone marrow. The onset of myelofibrosis is usually very slow. There are no symptoms in the early stage. Then symptoms of weakness like short of strength, night sweat, mental confusion, pale faces and shortness of breath occur, together with other symptoms like abdominal pain, abdominal mass (splenomegaly), and bone aches. Laboratory analyses show that moderate anemia can be observed in most of the cases and severe anemia may occur in patients in late stages. Tear like red blood cells, promyelocytes and normoblasts can be observed in the peripheral blood. In bone marrow puncture tests bone marrow often cannot be obtained because the bone is too hard. If proliferations of fibrous tissue are observed in bone marrow biopsies, it would be very helpful to the diagnosis.
¡¡¡¡This disease belongs to the category of ¡°Deficiencies and Fatigues¡± and ¡°Disease Accumulation¡±. Its onset is related to exogenous toxic heat and internal injuries in the seven emotional factors. After infections of viruses, bacteria or chemical or physical toxins, the toxic heat goes into the blood and cause stasis in the blood. Because the liver stores blood the stasis accumulates in the liver. The internal injuries of the seven emotional factors are often caused by emotional frustrations. This can cause disorders in the liver Qi and the stagnation of Qi further causes the stasis in the blood. The resulted clinical symptoms include hepatomegaly, ¡¡¡¡splenomegaly, blood stasis, dysfunction of blood generation and finally progressive anemia. So myelofibrosis is clinically divided into two stages. In the early stage the symptoms are mainly hepatomegaly and splenomegaly. Anemia is not apparent and there even can be increases in the three kinds of blood cells in some patients. The therapeutic strategy for this stage is mainly to remove heat from the liver, clear away toxins, invigorate the blood and expel stagnation. The suitable medicines are Longdan Xiegan Tang and Taoren Siwu Tang in proper proportions. In the middle and late stages the clinical symptoms include progressive heptomegaly, progressive splenomegaly and progressive anemia. Decreases in all kinds of blood cells can be observed. The pathogenesis in this stage is ascertained as excess interwoven. The best therapeutic strategy is to invigorate the blood, expel the stagnation, nourish the blood and enhance the generation of new blood. The suitable medicines are Huaji Wan and Siwu Tang in proper proportions. Our clinical practices proved that Chinese herbal medicine can effectively inhibit the proliferation of fibrous tissue and enhance the degradation of collagen tissue. For most of the cases treated in the early stages the blood level can be restored and the splenomegaly and myelofibrosis can be alleviated or cured completely.
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