Treating senile dementia with traditional Chinese medicine

Han Yan¹, Lin Li², Xi Can Tang¹

¹State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; ²Unilever Research China, Shanghai, China

Abstract: Senile dementia is a syndrome in the elderly involving deficits in memory and cognition. There has been a long history of research and medical practice in dementia in China, during which the ancient Chinese people have formed a whole theory and accumulated abundant experience in the treatment of dementia. During recent decades, with new theories and technologies being digested and integrated, progress has been made in the medical and pharmacy research on senile dementia in China. In this review, we will focus on the traditional opinion, clinical practice, and recent progress in pharmacological research in China towards the treatment of dementia. We also discuss the potential trends of global convergence.

Keywords: senile dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, traditional Chinese medicine