Traditional Chinese herbs in treatment of neurological and neurosurgical disorders.

EDITOR'S NOTE With the rapid increase in communication and exchange of ideas between China and North America during the past decade, there has been considerable interest amongst Western physicians in traditional Chinese medicine and the use of herbal preparations for a variety of medical problems. The exact chemical constituents of many of these preparations are still unknown and few of the treatments have been tested in rigorous controlled clinical trials. Nevertheless it was considered timely to present a review of the use of herbal medicines in certain neurological problems, and Drs. Ding and He were invited to prepare this special feature for the CJNS. Drs. Ding and He are presently both working as visiting scientists in North America — Dr. Ding in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at University of Calgary and Dr. He in the Department of Neurology at University of Wisconsin. Traditional Chinese medicine and herbs have been widely used for at least 3,000 years. During this time there has been a rich accumulation of experience using herbal medication to treat a variety of diseases. Numerous books were written by ancient Chinese physicians and they are still in use today. Since 1949, the further development of Chinese medicine has been encouraged and in some areas important contributions to the health care of the Chinese people have resulted from combining traditional Chinese and Western medicine. Since effective treatments are still not available for many neurological disorders, there has been a natural tendency to attempt treatment of some of these conditions with traditional herbal medicine. This article will briefly review some of the experience gained from using Chinese herbs in the fields of neurology and neurosurgery.