Many patients visit hospitals, and when doctors ask them what form of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) they need, patients often have little understanding of the different forms, leading to many questions.
The processing of raw medicinal materials into forms suitable for medical or preventive applications is referred to as dosage forms. Currently, commonly used TCM dosage forms include decoctions (tāng jì), pastes (jiān gāo jì), powders (sǎn jì), pills (wán jì), tablets (piàn jì), capsules (jiāo zhuāng jì), injections (zhù shè jì), and aerosols (qì wù jì), among over 40 types.
In clinical practice, the choice of dosage form is often based on the following situations.
1. Nature of the Medicine
Toxic or irritating medicines can be formulated into paste pills or wax pills using excipients to reduce toxicity and adverse reactions, such as Little Golden Pills (xiǎo jīn wán) and Three Huang Wax Pills (sān huáng bāo là wán). Some toxic medicines, due to their small dosage, are often mixed with a certain proportion of excipients to create diluted powders, also known as 倍散 (bèi sǎn), such as Jiu Fen San (九分散).
2. Patient Needs
For patients with high taste requirements, such as children, syrup forms can be used to improve medication compliance, such as Chuan Bei Pi Pa Syrup (川贝枇杷糖浆).
3. Requirements for Production, Storage, Transportation, and Administration
Decoctions have a wide range of applications and are easy to prepare, but they are not easy to store, transport, or carry. In contrast, powders and pills are relatively convenient for transportation and carrying, such as Chuan Xiong Cha Tiao San (川芎茶调散) and Bing Peng San (冰硼散).
4. Rational Use of Different Formulas
For example, Jiu Wei Qiang Huo Tang (九味羌活汤) is a commonly used formula in clinical practice, often used for external invasion of wind, cold, and dampness, with internal heat symptoms. It is particularly effective for patients with wind-cold flu complicated by dampness and internal heat. However, when made into pills, its effectiveness for treating external diseases is reduced, making it more suitable for treating internal injuries and miscellaneous diseases.
5. Severity and Urgency of the Condition
The absorption rates of different TCM dosage forms generally range from slow to fast as follows: pills, tablets, powders, suppositories, decoctions, tinctures, subcutaneous injections, intramuscular injections, aerosols, and intravenous injections. In clinical practice, “decoctions are quick to absorb,” and decoctions are widely used for acute conditions due to their rapid absorption and effect; “pills are slow to act,” and pills have a slow onset but a prolonged effect, often used for chronic diseases, such as Six Flavor Rehmannia Pills (六味地黄丸); water-soluble matrix pills, such as Compound Danshen Dripping Pills (复方丹参滴丸), act quickly.
Therefore, in clinical applications, doctors will choose the appropriate TCM dosage form based on the characteristics of different forms and actual situations to improve the therapeutic effect of the formulas, reduce adverse drug reactions, enhance patient compliance, and meet the actual needs of patients.
Guiding Expert: Xu Chen, Chief TCM Pharmacist, Hongdu Hospital of Nanchang City
Correspondent: Qiu Peijun
Editor: Zhou Yun
Review: Xie Tao
Issued by: Dai Lihong
Images: Some images in this article are sourced from the internet, and the copyright belongs to the original authors. If there is any infringement, please contact us for removal..
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