1Department of Chinese medicine,Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
2Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital
Chiayi Branch, Chiayi, Taiwan
3Department of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University
Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
【Summary】
In modern medical environment, the awareness of the interaction between traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine has been gradually raise. Commonly used in clinical practice, Ginseng is an important Chinese herb, and is applied to patients with qi deficiency of heart, lung and spleen. However, it’s found to have an interaction with anticoagulant drugs, which may cause life-threatening risks. As a result, it is worth further exploring the interaction between use of Ginseng and Warfarin. Of the reviews of domestic and international literatures, Ginseng has been the most commonly cited Chinese herb in terms of the interaction with use of Warfarin. However, the effect of Ginseng on Warfarin has been reported with abundant conflicting results according to the past literature research. After our review and discussion, we can conclude several points for physicians as reference. The key factor of the interaction between Ginseng and Warfarin lies in the dose and time length of use of Ginseng and individual constitutional factors. To sum up, advanced clinical facts of research will be expected to further clarify the problem.