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Acute decompensated ischemic heart failure is a serious condition associated with severe symptoms and reduced quality of life. Yiqi Fumai lyophilized injection, a traditional Chinese medicine preparation, is already used clinically in China for this condition, but robust evidence for its efficacy had been lacking.
Researchers conducted a large multicentre, open-label, blinded-outcome randomised controlled trial across 37 hospitals in 20 regions of China, enrolling 666 patients between 2015 and 2018. Participants were randomly assigned in equal numbers to receive either guideline-directed medical therapy alone or guideline-directed medical therapy plus Yiqi Fumai lyophilized injection for seven days. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients achieving a reduction of at least 30% in B-type natriuretic peptide — a key heart failure biomarker — by day eight.
A significantly higher proportion of patients in the Yiqi Fumai lyophilized injection group achieved this target compared with the control group (55.21% versus 41.93%). The treatment group also showed statistically significant improvements in left ventricular ejection fraction, New York Heart Association functional class, and quality-of-life scores. Rates of adverse events and composite clinical endpoints such as mortality and hospitalisation were similar between groups.
Conclusion: Adding Yiqi Fumai lyophilized injection to standard guideline-directed care appears to improve cardiac biomarker levels, cardiac function, and quality of life in acute decompensated ischemic heart failure, though no significant benefit on hard clinical outcomes such as mortality was observed.
Source: Wang X, Zhao Z, Mao J et al. Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 42013737) · doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2026.158191
