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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 28, 2017; 23(20): 3615-3623
Published online May 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i20.3615
Perspectives of traditional Chinese medicine in pancreas protection for acute pancreatitis
Jun Li, Shu Zhang, Rui Zhou, Jian Zhang, Zong-Fang Li
Jun Li, National Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Biodiagnostics and Biotherapy, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Shu Zhang, Rui Zhou, Jian Zhang, Zong-Fang Li, National Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Biodiagnostics and Biotherapy, Department of General Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Li J and Zhang S collected the underlying material, wrote the initial draft of the manuscript; Li J, Zhang S, Zhou R, Zhang J and Li ZF designed the outline of the paper; Zhang S and Li ZF finalized and revised the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30171167, No. 30901945; Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education, No. 20130201130009; Science and Technology Program of Shaanxi Province, No. 2012KTCQ03-15; and Science Research Foundation of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. YJ(QN)201311).
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Zong-Fang Li, MD, PhD, National Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Biodiagnostics and Biotherapy, Department of General Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, 157 West 5th Road, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China. lzf2568@gmail.com
Telephone: +86-29-87678002 Fax: +86-29-87678634
Received: January 26, 2017
Peer-review started: February 2, 2017
First decision: February 23, 2017
Revised: March 13, 2017
Accepted: May 4, 2017
Article in press: May 4, 2017
Published online: May 28, 2017
Processing time: 120 Days and 9.6 Hours
Abstract

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is one of the most common diseases. AP is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, but it lacks specific and effective therapies. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the most popular complementary and alternative medicine modalities worldwide for the treatment of AP. The current evidence from basic research and clinical studies has shown that TCM has good therapeutic effects on AP. This review summarizes the widely used formulas, single herbs and monomers that are used to treat AP and the potential underlying mechanisms of TCM. Because of the abundance, low cost, and safety of TCM as well as its ability to target various aspects of the pathogenesis, TCM provides potential clinical benefits and a new avenue with tremendous potential for the future treatment of AP.

Keywords: Acute pancreatitis; Traditional Chinese medicine; Alternative therapy; Pancreas protection; Anti-inflammatory

Core tip: Specific and effective therapies for the treatment of AP are lacking. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) exhibits beneficial, curative effects in basic research and clinical studies of AP treatment. Because of its abundance, low cost, safety and ability to target various aspects of AP pathogenesis, TCM provides a promising complementary and alternative therapy for the treatment of AP.