BACKGROUND: Notoginseng saponins has effects of activating blood circulation to dissipate blood stasis, increasing blood supplies in cerebral vessels and coronal artery, ameliorating microcirculation, etc. Whether the early rehabilitation with the utilizations of traditional Chinese herbs and facilitation techniques would significantly improve the rehabilitation of the patients with cerebral apoplexy? OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of notoginseng extract, xuesaitong, and early rehabilitation on the microcirculation and hemorheology in patients with cerebral infarction for the discussion of the mechanism of its therapeutic effectiveness. DESIGN: A randomized and controlled trial based on diagnosis. INTERVENTION: A total of 200 cerebral infarction patients due to hypertensive arteriosclerosis diagnosed by head CT or MRI were randomly divided into two groups. A total of 100 cases of study group were treated with 250ml to 500ml of normal saline or 50 g/l of glucose containing 200mg of xuesaitong each time through intravenous instillation once a day, and early rehabilitation conducted by facilitation techniques after the stabilization of the physical signs. A total of 100 cases of control group were treated with traditional method. The therapeutic effectiveness of the patients in both groups were evaluated by Clinical Nerve Functional Deficiency Scale before and after the treatment, the rehabilitation of hemiplegia was evaluated by Brunstrom Scale, and the ability of activity of daily life (ADL) was evaluated by Barthel Index (BI). The changes in nailfold microcirculation and hemorheology were observed simultaneously in patients of both groups before and after treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) ADL rehabilitation in patients of both groups, (2) rehabilitation of hemiplegia in patients of both groups, (4) changes of nailfold microcirculation in patients of both groups, (5) changes of hemorheology in patients of both groups. RESULTS: The restorations of ADL ability and the functional restoration of hemiplegia in patients of study group were better than those of control group with 93% of effective rate and 52% of marked rate, which were significantly different from that of control group (Chi2 = 19.46, p < 0.005). It could be seen from the comparisons between each observatory index, the microcirculation and hemorhealogy of patients in study group were significantly improved after therapy. CONCLUSION: Traditional Chinese medicine notoginseng extract, xuesaitong, and the early rehabilitation receives favorable clinical therapeutic effectiveness through the mechanisms of improving microcirculation and hemorhealogy, etc, which is an optimal method in the treatment of cerebral infarction in acute stage.

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