Clinical Research of Shensong Yangxin Capsule Combined with Rhodiola Rosea on Radioactive Heart Damage

OBJECTIVE To explore the cardiac protective effects of Shensong Yangxin Capsule on patients with chest tumor radiotherapy. METHODS 120 patients with thoracic tumors(including lung cancer， breast cancer， mediastinal tumor and esophageal cancer) requiring radiotherapy were randomly divided into radiotherapy combined with Shensong Yangxin Capsule group (group A)， radiotherapy with Rhodiola rosea group(group B)， radiotherapy plus Shensong Yangxin Capsule and Rhodiola rosea group(group C) and radiotherapy alone group (group D)， with 30 patients in each group. Levels of serum transforming growth factor(TGF-β₁)， tumor necrosis factor(TNF-α)， endothelin(ET) contents， occurrence rate of radioactive heart damage of each group were compared within three months after radiotherapy and changes of myocardial integrated back scatter(IBS) in the third month were observed. RESULTS After radiotherapy the contents of TGF-β₁， TNF-α and ET contents of group A B and C were lower than those of the group D (P<0.01). The incidence rates of acute cardiac injury of the first three groups were also lower than those of the group D within one to three months after radiotherapy(P<0.05). IBS levels of anterior wall and anterior inter-ventricular septum in the third month after radiotherapy were increased significantly in the group D while no changes were detected in the other three groups.CONCULSION Shensong Yangxin Capsule combined with Rhodiola rosea is able to reduce the production of inflammatory cytokines in tissues and inhibit the increase of IBS during radiotherapy so as to protect heart from radiation injury.