2. Nephritis

2. Nephritis

According to traditional Chinese medicine, the treatment of this disease should focus on warming yang to transform water and strengthening the spleen to promote diuresis, with formulas such as Jin Gui Shen Qi, Bu Zhong Yi Qi, Wu Ling, and Wu Pi. The emphasis of medication remains on the qi level. Since the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine began, given that the pathological changes in nephritis are based on the proliferation of the glomerular vascular basement membrane—a change that also falls under the category of blood stasis in TCM—the Shanxi Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine formulated the Kidney-Nourishing Decoction (dang gui, red peony root, Sichuan lovage, peach kernel, safflower, motherwort, salvia miltiorrhiza, honeysuckle, dandelion, houttuynia, indigofera, and white grass root) based on this view, using it to treat 181 cases of various types of nephritis, including 37 cases of acute nephritis, 125 cases of chronic nephritis, and 19 cases of azotemia and uremia. The treatment results showed a cure rate of 64.86% and a markedly effective rate of 86.48% for acute nephritis; a complete remission rate of 45.6% and a basic remission rate of 24.8% along with a markedly effective rate of 70.4% for chronic nephritis; however, the therapeutic effect on uremia was not very obvious. Pei Zhengxue believes that treating various types of nephritis primarily by invigorating blood circulation and removing blood stasis yields good results in eliminating proteinuria and restoring renal function. The First Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical College used the Nephritis Blood-Stasis Removing Decoction (dang gui, red peony root, Sichuan lovage, peach kernel, safflower, and motherwort) to treat 33 cases of refractory chronic nephritis (patients who had not responded to Western medical treatment), achieving good therapeutic results after 2–12 months of medication.