Construction of the Chinese-Western Synergistic System for the Prevention and Treatment of Diabetic Lower Extremity Arterial Disease

Diabetic lower extremity arterial disease (DLEAD) is characterized by a low rate of diagnosis, low awareness, low treatment rate, high disability rate, and high mortality. Due to a lack of comprehensive prevention and treatment strategies or an integrated technological system, DLEAD has become a bottleneck in the prevention and control of diabetes mellitus at present. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment of DLEAD offers the advantages of syndrome differentiation, evidence-based treatment, and holistic regulation. However, it lacks a comprehensive understanding of the through-course pathogenesis and unified standardized syndrome criteria. TCM treatment of DLEAD exerts multi-target and multi-pathway network effects, but the advantageous links are still not fully understood. TCM treatments can delay the onset and development of DLEAD, but the efficacy evaluation system remains incomplete. Furthermore, there is a lack of high-quality evidence-based medical evidence and clinical consensus and guidelines. Therefore, based on the idea of zhi wei bing, or treating the disease before it develops, in Chinese medicine, and focusing on the prevention and control of DLEAD, we have constructed a synergistic technical system that integrates traditional Chinese and Western medicine for the prevention and control of DLEAD. This system integrates prevention, diagnosis, treatment, mechanisms, and applications, so as to enhance the clinical effects of DLEAD prevention and control, and to create a new paradigm for collaborative traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine in the field of chronic disease management.