Effect of Yiqihuoxue Formula for the treatment of ischemic stroke: A retrospective study

This retrospective study assessed the feasible effect of Yiqihuoxue Formula (YQHXF) for the treatment of patients with ischemic stroke (IS). A total of 66 patients with IS were included in this retrospective study. All patients received routine treatment, and were divided into two groups: a treatment group (n = 33) and a control group (n = 33). In addition to the routine treatment, all patients in the treatment group also underwent YQHXF treatment. All patients in both groups were treated for a total of 8 weeks. The outcomes were assessed by National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), modified Rankin scale (mRS), Barthel index scale (BIS), stroke-specific quality of life (SS-QOL) scale, and adverse events. All outcomes were measured before and after the treatment. After treatment, patients in the treatment group showed better improvements in NIHSS scale (P = .01), mRS (P < .01), BIS (P = .04), and SS-QOL scale (P = .04), than patients in the control group. No treatment-associated adverse events were recorded in this study. The results of this study indicated that YQHXF may benefit for patients with IS.