（1. Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences， Beijing 100091， China；
2. Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine， Ji′nan 250355， China；
3. Qilu Hospital of Shandong University， Ji′nan 250012， China；
4. Guang′anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences， Beijing 100053， China）
[Abstract] Objective： To observe the effect of detoxifying and blood circulation activating Chinese herb extraction of polygonum cuspidatum and hawthorn on carotid intima-media thickness （IMT）， plaque integral and plaque stability related serum indexes of patients with carotid atherosclerosis. Method： Sixty and four cases of carotid artery atherosclerosis patients were assigned randomly to 2 groups： detoxifying and blood circulation activating treatment group（treatment group， 32 cases） and control group（32 cases）. Patients in treatment group were treated with capsules of extraction of polygonum cuspidatum and hawthorn， 1 pill po， bid（dosage of administration： polygonum cuspidatum extraction 5.33 mg·kg-1·d-1， hawthorn extraction 5.0 mg·kg-1·d-1）； patients in control group were treated with lovastatin 20 mg po， qd（dosage of administration： 0.33 mg·kg-1·d-1）. The course of treatment was six months. To observe changes of IMT， plaque integral， and detect the level of plaque stability related serum indexes such as Hs-CRP， MMP-1 and TIMP-1. Result： After 6 months of treatment， in control group one patient quit the clinical trial because of liver dysfunction and one patient was rejected because of having not followed the therapeutic regimen. 32 cases in treatment group and 30 cases in control group were analyzed. The results showed that IMT and plaque integral of treatment group decreased significantly after the treatment（P
[Key words] detoxifying and blood circulation activating； Chinese herb extraction； carotid atherosclerosis； plaque stability
doi：10.4268/cjcmm20140632