Chinese patent medicines for coronary microvascular disease: clinical evidence and potential mechanisms

Coronary microvascular disease (CMVD) is a high risk factor for many cardiovascular events. Due to the limited understanding of its pathophysiological mechanism, modern medicine still lacks therapeutic drugs for CMVD. Existing clinical studies have shown that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can effectively improve the clinical symptoms and quality of life of CMVD patients. As an indispensable part of TCM, Chinese patent medicines (CPMs) are widely used in clinical practice. In the face of numerous oral CPMs for treatment of CMVD, how to choose a reasonable medication regimen is one of the important issues in clinic. Based on this, this paper reviewed the clinical efficacy and recommended level of 12 CPMs in the treatment of CMVD, which are recommended by expert consensus on diagnosis and treatment of coronary microvascular disease with integrated Chinese and Western medicine (WM). In addition, this study also systematically summarized the possible mechanisms of CPMs in the treatment of CMVD by protecting coronary microvascular endothelial cells, improving vascular endothelial function, inhibiting inflammation, reducing oxidative stress, promoting angiogenesis, and improving hemorheology, aiming to provide meaningful information for its clinical application.