Shenfu injection as treatment for critical illness: a narrative review of clinical trials

Abstract

Background and Objective Shenfu injection (SFI) is a traditional herbal medicine derived from components of ginseng and aconite and is commonly used in China to treat a variety of conditions. Shenfu has been suggested to have beneficial effects in various critical illnesses, including heart failure, cardiac arrest, and septic shock. In recent years, there have been a number of studies reporting that SFI improves patient outcomes when used concurrently with other treatments, but its use has not been adopted outside of China. This narrative review explored the results of clinical trials that have tested SFI’s efficacy in various critical illnesses. Methods PubMed was searched for clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses published between 1990 and July 2022 relating to clinical trials using SFI in various critical illnesses. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses were included to enable inclusion of data from trials originally not published in English. The selected articles were then summarized in the following disease categories: heart failure, cardiac arrest, sepsis, and severe pulmonary disease. Key Content and Findings Clinical trials testing SFI in heart failure, cardiac arrest, sepsis, and pulmonary disease were reviewed. The design, methodology, and key findings of each trial or meta-analysis are summarized and discussed. Key limitations were also highlighted and discussed. Overall, several clinical trials suggest SFI may hold therapeutic potential for the treatment of critical illness, however, additional research is likely still needed. Conclusions Based on the current body of literature, further research—especially multi-center randomized, double-blind trials with detailed reporting of all methods and results according to international guidelines—is needed to evaluate whether SFI is a useful addition to existing treatments for these conditions.