Origin Analysis of Related Heart and Lung

LIU Yu-jing; JIA Zhen-hua

Abstract：Epidemiologic studies have revealed the interaction between heart and pulmonary diseases.Such as in the advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,it would develop cor pulmonale and chronic heart failure or coexist with coronary artery disease,and coronary artery disease can affect pulmonary ventilation function.In this article,we reviewed the theoretical origin and developments of the correlation between heart and lung and contemporary studies.The pathophysiological associations between heart and lung were elucidated in the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor and Catechetical Canon,laying the theoretical foundations about heart-lung correlation.In the East Han Dynasty,Zhang Zhongjing took a comprehensive therapy aiming at heart and lung to treat thoracic obstruction or phlegm and fluid retention.Since the Jin and Tang Dynasties,the heart-lung correlation was expounded by the restraint between pulmonary metal and heart fire,and furthermore the ancestral qi which governs the heart and lung functions was emphasized particularly.Moreover contemporary doctors conducted abundant clinical practices and epidemiologic studies about various cardiac and pulmonary diseases,which further enriched the theory of heart-lung correlation.