肌少症中醫藥治療之文獻回顧與治療展望

A comprehensive review of sarcopenia treatment using traditional Chinese medicine

根據我國政府歷年的統計資料，人口結構老化已經成為臺灣社會急需面對的問題。肌少症是歸屬於老年症候群的一種新興健康議題，雖引起了臨床醫師和研究者的注意，但中醫方面對於肌少症的研究仍然不足，因此藉由回顧分析現代醫學和傳統中醫的觀點，期能找出肌少症的有效療法及其機轉，作為臨床治療的參考和未來進一步的研究方向。現代醫學認為，肌少症的機轉包含肌肉及神經系統退化、營養不良、內分泌失調、發炎反應等多重因素，描述近似於中醫「痿症」與「虛勞」。文獻回顧中藥藥理研究，發現某些藥物和處方可能具有治療肌少症的潛力，像是五味子、枇杷葉、薑黃、當歸、肉蓯蓉、黃耆、厚朴、人參、生薑、濟生腎氣丸、滋陰降火湯、六君子湯等。然而，目前仍然缺乏臨床試驗的研究結果可以證明這些藥物處方對於肌少症的實際療效，未來還需要更多的專家學者投入中醫藥與肌少症相關的研究。

 

Aging has become a major geriatric health issue worldwide in recent years. Sarcopenia, presented as degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass with increased age, has drawn researchers’ attention. However, only limited traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) researches aimed at sarcopenia. Our research focused on comprehensively reviewing and discussing the pathophysiology and mechanism of treatment in terms of the viewpoint of modern medicine and TCM, and the results may provide clinical suggestions or targets for further studies. Sarcopenia may be referred as “wilting disease” and “consumptive disease” in TCM. Various TCM herbs and formula show potential therapeutic effects toward sarcopenia, such as Schisandrae Fructus, Loquat leaf, Curcuma longa, Angelica sinensis, Cistanche deserticola, Astragali radix, Honokiol, Panax ginseng, Zingiber officinale (raw ginger), Ji-Sheng-Shen-Qi-Wan, Zi-ying-jiang-huo-tang, Liu-Jun-Zi-Tang. Nevertheless, there is still lacking in enough clinical trials for using TCM in treating sarcopenia, which may require more experts’ devotion in the future.